Haunted
by Salemsoriginal99
Summary: Ron and Hermione are engaged and ready to get married. But all plans come to a halt when Hermione gets attacked and has to go to St. Mungos. The problem is nothing attacked her...
1. So it Begins

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

Hermione smiled as she woke up, glancing over to the snoring body next to her. Rolling her eyes, she poked him. He grumbled and rolled on his side, his back facing her. Sighing, she sat up and shook him.

"'Mione," he groaned, turning over again to face her.

She smiled down at him. "I seem to remember that we had a 'no sleeping together until the wedding night lest Ronald Weasley lose control' rule," she whispered, pushing back the covers and getting out of bed.

Ron looked down then frowned. "I still have my clothes on," he mumbled, watching her move over to the vanity.

She glanced back at him. "That's not what I meant, Ron," she said, pulling out a t-shirt.

Ron rolled his eyes and got up, going over to her. "We didn't do anything," he complained, pulling her back to his chest while she continued to search for clothes.

Hermione leaned her head to the side as his lips began to make their way down her neck. "That doesn't mean you're spending the night here again," she said opening another drawer.

Ron's eyes got bright and he reached around her pulling out some rather lacy panties. "When do you where these?" he asked cheekily.

Hermione snatched them out of his hands and put them back in the drawer, pulling out some much less revealing underwear. "When I'm with my other lover," she answered casually, closing the drawer and pulling away from Ron.

"Oy!"

She smiled and went into the bathroom. "Why don't you make some breakfast?" she suggested before closing the door.

Ron rolled his eyes and left the bedroom.

Soon the flat was filled with the wonderful smells of breakfast as Hermione emerged from her room, decked out in faded jeans and a rather fitting baby blue shirt. She stopped at the door and took a sniff, savoring the smell before entering the kitchen and wrapping her arms around Ron. He glanced down at her then back at the bacon.

"I'm going to burn it," he said.

Hermione smiled and kissed him on the cheek before pouring herself a cup of tea and sitting down at the small kitchen table.

"Reeta Skeeter wants to know about our wedding plans," she commented as she watched him.

"Skeeter can go to hell."

"Ron!"

"She can!" he defended.

"You shouldn't condemn people," she scolded.

"You called Malfoy a vile, loathsome, evil little cockroach. Look how he turned out," he pointed out.

Hermione rolled her eyes and looked down at her cup, muttering to herself about ferrets and reporters. Ron smiled and turned back to the stove. She picked up the newspaper that had been delivered and began to read, stopping only at interesting pieces of writing.

"I guess you're going into work," she said as he set down some food on the table.

He frowned and stopped. "What do you mean?"

Hermione set down the paper and pointed at an article on the front page. "Someone broke into the Auror Headquarters," she told him.

Ron sat down beside her and picked up the paper, his eyes scanning over the contents of the article. "It says they broke into an Auror's office… won't say whose," he said as he began stuffing eggs into his mouth.

Hermione grimaced and turned away, sipping her tea. "Some things never change," she muttered to herself.

* * *

"Weasley! You're late!"

"I wasn't even supposed to be here today," Ron grumbled.

"You're a great Auror, Weasley, but I swear, you keep talking and you'll be at your desk for months," Kingsley growled.

Ron sighed and glanced around. "May I ask _why_ I'm here?"

Kingsley pointed over to the hall leading to several Auror's offices. "Your office was broken into," he said.

Ron immediately straightened, his eyes darkening. "What?"

Kingsley led the way, moving past several Aurors in the hall. "Some guard came past this morning. The alarm didn't even go off. He checked around and your office was trashed."

Ron caught sight of his open door, several Aurors moving in and out with cameras and notepads. Ron moved passed them and entered his office, looking around in horror. File cabinet in his office was tipped over, the files all over the floor. The two chairs in front of his desk were destroyed as well as his own chair. The pictures on the wall however were untouched. However, the one on his desk was out of its frame. It was the one of him, Harry, Hermione, Ginny, Neville and Luna at graduation. Hermione's face was circled in red. Ron reached out to grab it but someone stopped him.

"Harry," he whispered.

Harry smiled and pointed around the room. "I always said you needed to redecorate," he said. He then pointed to the picture. "It's cursed. Some bloke already tried touching it. We had to send him to Mungos," he told his friend.

"Who the hell?"

"There's plenty of people," Harry quipped, watching as some Aurors took photos of the wreckage. "It's more like what."

Ron turned to Harry, an eyebrow raised. "What? You think a creature had the time to do this without security catching wind of it?" he asked incredulously.

Harry glanced around one more time before leading Ron out of the destroyed room. He led his friend across to his office and closed the door. "Kingsley probably already told you, but security didn't see anything," he said.

"Then how did my room get destroyed? And more importantly, why?" Ron growled, running his hands through his hair.

Harry patted Ron's back. "It'll be ok. Your room will be fine," he said. He then sat down at his desk and looked up at Ron, a smirk on his face.

"Why were you late anyway? The only time you're ever late is when you're with Herm-"

"I'm going to go see if anything was stolen," Ron muttered, leaving the room.

Harry watched him go, smiling to himself and shaking his head.

* * *

"I've got to go," Ginny whispered.

"Now?"

"Yes, now. I do have a job you know."

"Oh right… I forgot."

"That might be on account that you're distracted."

"You're distracting," he mumbled into her neck.

Ginny sighed and pulled away, taking his face in her hands. "I _really_ have to go. I have a _ton_ of papers on my desk that have to be signed."

"You're too important for your own damn good," he whispered.

"You're lucky I'm a good girl or the press would be all over this," Ginny said grabbing her purse and heading for the door.

"You're a good girl?"

Ginny turned to him and stuck out a tongue.

"That's mature," he said.

"I'll see you later. After all, important people have important things to do," she said.

"I'm important."

"You're in the wrong department to be important for me," Ginny replied.

Brendon Helton stood up from his chair and walked over to her, wrapping his arms around her waist. "I may not be a part in the Quiddich department, but I do have the power to put you under arrest," he whispered, leaning in and kissing her softly.

"I'm terrified," she mumbled, pulling away and going out the door. She walked down the large hall and was about to make it when the door to her right opened in the raven headed man stepped out. He looked up and frowned.

"Ginny?"

She stumbled over herself and looked up, surprised.

"Harry! What are you doing here?"

Harry's frown deepened, his eyes traveling down the hall before they turned to her. "I _work_ here, remember… what are you-"

"Gin! Gin, you left your jacket," Helton called, coming down the hall and handing Ginny her denim jacket.

Ginny glanced over at Harry, whose eyes were now on Helton. She turned to the man and smiled. "Thanks," she whispered.

Helton smiled and then noticed Harry. "Potter. You going to the briefing?"

"Yes, sir," Harry answered, his eyes now on Ginny.

Helton nodded and pointed down the hall. "Well, come on. Don't want to be late," he said before turning to Ginny. "I'll see you tonight, right?"

Ginny smiled and nodded. She stiffened slightly when he kissed her cheek then started off down the hall. Harry watched him go then turned to Ginny, an eyebrow raised.

"You're dating him?"

At first Ginny looked embarrassed then she puffed up, her eyes hardening. "Yes, I am. Do you find something wrong with that?"

She saw something flicker in his eyes then he held up his hands. "No… No… It's nice… that you've found someone," he whispered.

She was overcome with fiendish glee to find that he was finding it hard to say those words. Though she didn't know why, she was felt that way. Shoving it down, she smiled.

"Well, it's nice to find someone who isn't so _self-sacrificing_," she said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked.

Ginny shook her head, looking down at her purse. "Nothing… I just meant that he doesn't put his job in front of his personal matters that's all," she whispered before moving passed him.

Harry looked down at the file in his hands then turned. "Ginny!"

She stopped and turned slightly. "Hmm?"

"How long have you two been going out?"

Ginny was about to say something when she stopped herself, looking slightly amused. She snorted and shook her head.

"It looks like Ron doesn't tell you everything," she commented before walking away.

* * *

"What are we here for?" Vivian Foreman, an older Auror, asked.

Ron smirked, leaning back in his chair. "Moody called the meeting, must be another wackjob," he commented.

"To be more precise, the wackjob that went into your office, Weasley," Moody growled.

Ron pulled his feet off the table and sat up straighter as Moody entered with Brendon Helton, the man in charge of Ron and Harry's division. He was a great Auror and friendly when he wasn't in a fighting mood. Ron frowned however when Harry entered, a dejected look on his face, his eyes on Helton. Ron's suspicions deepened when Harry sat down beside two Aurors further down.

"Now, if Weasley's done making jokes, let's begin," Moody growled, pulling out a file. "Now what do we know?"

"Whoever it was made it passed security," Hugh Bilington offered.

"He left my pictures alone," Ron said.

"Not that anyone would want them," Vivian muttered.

Several Aurors smiled and Ron rolled his eyes. Helton stood up and put some photos on the board then turned to Ron.

"Was anything missing from your office, Weasley?"

Ron was about to shake his head when he stopped and stood. He walked over to one of the pictures and stared hard at it then nodded. "Yeah… something's missing…" He pointed to one of the photos. "There."

Helton walked over and squinted, frowning. "Your address book?"

Ron rolled his eyes. "No… my picture… it's gone. There was a picture of Her…" He coughed and shifted. Several men chuckled and Ron shot a look at them before turning back at the picture. "A picture's missing," he said clearly before sitting back down, glancing over at Harry, whose eyes were on the table.

"Do you have anyone who would want to harm you?"

"There's plenty of people who would want to _kill_ me," Ron replied. "Most of them are in Azkaban. The others are stewing away at home because I'm engaged."

The room broke out in chuckles and even Moody cracked a ghost of a smile. The old man stood and began tossing files to everyone. "For the next few days all of you have the nice job of staying after hours when the lights go out to see if that creep will come back again," he told them. Groans rang out and Moody started to leave. "You have Weasley and his engaged arse to thank for that."

Ron stood up with the others and started for the door. He waited outside until Harry walked out. He grabbed his arm and pulled him to the side. "Am I allowed to ask what I did, or are you going to continue all day like this until we get to the Burrow and then decide that then will be a good time to explode in front of my parents?" he asked.

"When were you planning to tell me that Ginny was seeing Helton?" Harry growled, starting off down the hall.

Ron froze for a moment then jogged to catch up with the furious raven head. "So that's what this is about?"

Harry turned to face Ron, stunned. "You seem to be taking this lightly," he commented bitterly.

Ron rolled his eyes. "Well, maybe the fact that she didn't want to tell you herself might say a lot more about you than me, Harry. I'm not the one who broke her heart six years ago," he pointed out.

Harry was about to retort when he deflated and looked away. "I was just surprised to see her coming out of his office, that's all."

"Something tells me that's not all, but I'll drop it," Ron muttered, starting to walk again.

"How long have they been dating?"

"Three years."

Harry stumbled and just stared at Ron, mouth hanging open. Ron turned around and sighed.

"Look, Harry. I wasn't even supposed to know. I just happened to barge in one time while they were… _cuddling_," he said, observing Harry's darkening visage. "She really didn't want anyone knowing about it, _especially_ you. Until now, obviously…"

"You could have warned me."

"I didn't think you cared."

"I don't."

"Then why are you making such a big deal over who Ginny dates?"

"I thought that was your job?"

Ron rolled his eyes. "I've got a wedding obsessed mother and a stressed fiancé to worry about. I don't have time to worry about Ginny's love life with my boss," Ron grumbled, moving back towards his office.

Harry watched him go then sighed, running his fingers through his hair. That burning sensation in his chest was once again evident and he knew he had to control it. He had no right to judge her. After all, it had been him that pushed her away…

**A/N: I know'll like this one!**


	2. The Three Broomsticks

**Insanity is often the logic of an accurate mind overtasked. - Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.**

Hermione looked up from the numerous magazines in front of her to see Ron enter with Harry, Fred and George. She glanced over to the excited Mrs. Weasley then sent a helpless look over to Ron. Ron smiled and walked over.

"Come on, mum. We just got engaged and the wedding's not for another six months. You're planning it like its next week," he said, leaning over and kissing Hermione on the brow before giving his mother a peck on the cheek.

Mrs. Weasley puffed up slightly. "Well forgive me for not wanting to be prepared ahead of time. You know all those last minute details that go into a wedding! Do you even have a place?"

Ron rolled his eyes. "Yes, mum. Hermione's booked the place and the caterer's included, except for the deserts," he grumbled.

"Who's doing deserts?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"You are," Ron answered, watching as four small children ran down the stairs and exited the house, followed by Fred and George.

Hermione smiled and got up, walking over to Ron and hugging him, leaning up and kissing his jaw. "Your mother's trying to be nice," she whispered.

Ron wrapped his arms around her small waist and looked down at her. "I just want to enjoy my engagement," he said.

"You will enjoy your engagement once the wedding's over," Mrs. Weasley said as she left the kitchen.

Hermione smiled and pulled away from him, going over to a rather silent Harry Potter. "You ok?"

"Did you know that Ginny was dating?" he asked suddenly.

Hermione looked shocked for a moment then she sighed. "Ginny obviously still doesn't like talking to you," she commented.

"What does this have to do with me? I'm just curious as to why, for three years, I never knew?"

"Well, maybe that has to do with the fact that you broke her heart six years ago," she whispered sharply.

Harry groaned. "Do we _have_ to go over that again? You know why I did it and so does she!"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "All men are idiots," she muttered.

"Hey!" Ron protested.

Hermione glanced over at him then began pouring herself some more tea. "I said _all_ men," she said.

Ron sank down into a chair, grumbling about not understanding women. Harry watched Hermione for a moment. "Are they serious?"

Hermione snorted. "It's been three years, I'd think so," she replied.

Harry pointed to Ron. "You and Ron were dating for _six_ years and it took him that long to realize he wanted to marry you," he commented.

Hermione smiled and shrugged. "Like I said. All men are idiots," she repeated before walking out the back door.

"RONALD WEASLEY!"

Ron shot up out of his seat and bolted up the stairs as Ginny came storming in, eyes blazing. She looked around and then her eyes fell on Harry. She froze for a moment then looked out the back door.

"Where'd he go?" she asked quietly.

"What'd he do?"

Ginny turned to him, eyebrow raised. "What does it matter?"

Harry stood up. "I'm curious that's all," he answered.

Ginny rolled her eyes and started to walk over to the stairs when Harry grabbed her arm. She looked at him, frowning.

"What happened?" he asked.

Ginny immediately understood what he meant and looked away, pulling her arm away from him. "You happened, Harry."

With that she walked up the stairs and away from Harry.

* * *

Ron woke up to an unpleasant sound. It was like a dying cat or something. Sitting up, he looked around to see Hermione standing at the side of his bed, watching him with amusement. Groaning, he fell back, eyes closed.

"It's Saturday, 'Mione," he grumbled.

"So?"

"Damn it, Hermione. Some people like to sleep in," he growled.

Hermione kneeled down on the bed and leaned over, kissing his jaw and nuzzling his neck. "Some people promised their fiancé that they would spend the day with them."

Ron glanced over at his alarm clock and groaned again. "It's nine o'clock," he muttered, pushing her hair out of his face.

"So I have to wait until twelve?" Hermione asked incredulously.

Ron looked up at her then pulled her down on top of him. "You could wait with me," he suggested.

"Your incorrigible," Hermione muttered, smiling as he began to kiss her face gently.

"But you love me."

"Probably the only reason I chose to marry you," she grumbled, enjoying the kisses he lavished upon her.

"That and the ring," Ron offered.

"The ring was a nice bonus."

"You're beautiful."

"I know."

"I love you," he whispered, kissing her fully while his hands wandered down towards her hips.

Hermione pulled away slightly, licking her lips.

"Telling me that I'm beautiful and that you love me isn't going to get you into my pants."

"It's nice to think about though."

Hermione rolled her eyes and pulled herself up so that she straddled him. "You really are incorrigible," she mumbled, straightening her shirt.

Ron watched her for a while and smiled. "Now this is a position I could get used to," he whispered.

Hermione's eyes grew and she shot him a dirty look before getting off him. Ron got up and followed her out of his bedroom to the kitchen where she started tidying up. He just stared, amazed at how natural she looked in his kitchen.

"You keep staring like that and I'll have to leave," Hermione said, turning around to face him.

"It's hard not to stare."

"Keep dreaming," she whispered, giving him a kiss before sitting down in a small chair and picking up a book she had brought with her. "Now go get dressed."

"Yes _mum_," Ron mocked, dragging his feet back to his bedroom.

* * *

"And you don't know who broke in?" Neville asked.

Ron shook his head, leaning back in his chair. "Nope. Not a clue. Bastard destroyed my office and the only thing he didn't touch were the pictures on the wall. That picture of us at graduation was destroyed though. The wanker circled 'Mione's face with red," Ron explained.

Hermione turned to Ron. "You never told me that," she said.

Ron shook his head. "It's alright. We've had some people stand guard at your flat. You're fine, Hermione," he assured.

Hermione regarded him carefully for a moment, knowing he wasn't telling her everything then sighed and nodded, turning back to Luna. She wouldn't get anything out of him. They all chatted for a while then Hermione stood and excused herself the bathroom. Going down the small hall and into the bathroom, she walked over to the counter by the sinks and opened her purse. She took out a tissue and blew her nose, tossed the tissue and entered a stall.

Flushing the toilet, she went over to the sink and began to wash her hands, glancing around for paper towels. As she washed her hands, she heard the door open and looked up to see who it was. No one came in. Frowning, she continued to wash her hands when a bathroom stall closed behind her, causing her to whirl around, eyes wide.

"Hello?" she called.

No one answered. Biting her lip, she leaned to the side and peeked under the door, hoping to find legs. There were none. Her heart was now pounding in her chest as she looked around. Once again the door opened and once again no one came in. Another stall door slammed shut, causing her to let out a small cry of shock. Gulping, she grabbed her purse and started for the door. Reaching for it, her heart stopped. The door was locked. Breathing deeply, she took out her wand.

"_Alohamora_," she whispered anxiously.

The door still didn't open. Another stall door slammed shut. Hermione whirled around, pressing herself to the door as she watched the last two stalls slam shut.

"Is anyone in here?" she asked, trying her best to remain calm.

One of the toilets flushed.

Suddenly an awful smell hit Hermione and she gasped for breath, turning around and pounded on the door.

"Hello! I'm stuck in here! Can anyone here me?!" she called.

Two more toilets flushed and the smell got worse. Like burning flesh…

"Please! Someone help me!" she screamed.

* * *

Ron was laughing so hard he hardly heard the muffled cry for help. Frowning he turned to Neville.

"Did you hear that?"

Neville wiped the tears from his eyes, chuckling still and shaking his head. "No, what was it?"

Ron frowned. "I don't know… it sounded like someone was crying or something."

Suddenly a scream ripped through the jovial atmosphere and everyone was silent. There was another scream, this one much higher, rent the air. Ron got to his feet and started for the bathrooms.

"Hermione!" he called, running down the hall and to the bathroom door, Neville, Luna and Rosemerta right behind him. He tried to open the door but it wouldn't budge. He pounded on the door.

"Hermione! Hermione, what's wrong?!" he demanded.

"RON!" came a tortured scream from within. There was a gurgling noise then another scream. "RON, HELP ME!" Hermione screamed.

Neville put his ear to the door, trying to listen. "What's she screaming about?" he asked worriedly.

Ron pulled out his wand. "Hermione, get away from the door!" he told her.

"NO!" was her answer. There was another scream then all was silent.

"HERMIONE!" Ron pointed his wand at the door and it exploded. Coughing from the dust, Ron ran in, looking around.

"Hermione," Luna called, moving past Ron and to the stalls. "Oh no," she gasped, entering one of them.

Ron ran over and his eyes grew huge. "Hermione…"

* * *

"Ron! Ron!"

Ron looked up to see his family come running over, at least seven kids in tow. He stood up, running his fingers through his hair. Mrs. Weasley took a hold of his hand.

"Oh honey, is she ok? Neville told us everything he knew," she exclaimed.

Ron shook his head. "I don't know. She hasn't come out yet and they're not telling me anything."

"You mean you don't know what happened to her?" Mr. Weasley asked.

Ron shook his head. "I don't know…"

"Excuse me. Are you Hermione Granger's fiancé?"

They all turned to see a young woman standing there, a file in her hand. Ron walked over.

"Yeah, Ron Weasley."

The woman nodded. "Yes, Mr. Weasley. I'm Healer Vern."

"How's Hermione?" Ron asked anxiously.

The woman smiled. "She'll be fine. She's sleeping now, but she'll be ready to leave in the morning. But I came to ask you, Mr. Longbottom and Ms. Lovegood some questions."

Luna and Neville walked over, frowning. "Is there something wrong?" Neville asked.

"Do you have any idea what happened to her?" Healer Vern asked.

"You don't?"

The woman shook her head. "Aside from the scratches and bruises she obtained, there was nothing else _physically_ wrong with her."

"But she passed out," Luna pointed out.

"That could have been caused by anything, but unless we know what it was, all we can say is that whatever happened in that bathroom will stay in that bathroom until Hermione wakes up and is able to tell you and the Aurors what happened. There's nothing more we can do…" The healer put on a smile. "Just be thankful she's fine," she whispered before leaving.

Harry placed a hand on Ron shoulder, shaking him slightly. "She'll be fine," he whispered.

Ron glanced up at him and nodded. "Yeah… she's a tough one," he replied.

* * *

Hermione woke up the next morning to the distant sound of two male voices. Opening her eyes she looked around drowsily.

"Ron?" she whispered.

The two men stopped talking and one came over to her side. "Hey… you're awake," the man whispered, though she couldn't clearly see who it was due to blurry vision.

"Where am I?" she asked.

"You're at Mungos," the other man answered.

"Is that you Harry?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm here."

Hermione closed her eyes for a moment then tried to prop herself up. The man near her reached forward and helped her sit up. She blinked a few times then everything came into focus. Ron was standing right beside her while Harry was at the edge of her bed, watching her carefully.

"How long was I out?" she asked.

"A few hours. The healers gave you some dreamless sleeping potion," Ron whispered.

"Hermione… what happened?" Harry asked softly.

She looked over at him then at Ron in surprise. "What do you mean what happened? You were there…"

Ron frowned. "What do you mean, 'we were there'? We couldn't get past the door, Hermione," he said.

"Not Harry, but you… you were there… in the bathroom… that thing pulled out of the stall…"

"Hermione, I was outside the whole time. You even called for my help," Ron whispered.

Hermione shook her head. "No! You were in the bathroom and I couldn't reach you so I called for your help… I saw you, Ron…"

Ron's gaze shifted from her to Harry, who looked just as confused. Hermione looked between them and frowned. "What? What is it?"

**A/N: Soooo... yeah... this is going to be interesting.**

**NairobiDawn:** I update fast.

**ronandmion4ever:** _Me?_ Why would _I_ do _anything_ of the sort? I'm insulted that you would think that I would stoop so low as to break up a _wedding_? You must be thinking about some other author because Salem does not break up relationships, make people cry, make up disturbings scenes from a disturbed mind nor does she allow any of her people to die in her stories. She likes bunnies and rainbows. If you're looking for someone who does all of the things listed above, you should find another story because this story is _all_ fluff! FLUFF! FLUFF! FLUFF!

(At this point I am gagging because of the word. gagfluffgag)

;-)

**charma10:** I bet you have _tons_ of imagination! Mine just happens to come from a warped up mind. Not all stories have to end in violence and gore and seperation. I just happen to be good at writing emotions. Everyone has a talent! (I just sounded so cliche, but who cares!)

**Glad you like it!**


	3. Don't Look Under the Bed

**Disclaimer: HP isn't mine. Just the plot and any additional characters.**

"How is she?"

Ron looked up to see Mr. Weasley standing there. Ron shrugged and looked back down at the fire. "I don't know… she stopped talking when she found out that she was hallucinating," he answered.

"She's just a little traumatized that's all, Ron," his father whispered, sitting down beside him.

Ron ran his hands through his long red hair, sighing. "She was screaming, dad… she was afraid and I couldn't do anything about it," he whispered.

Mr. Weasley couldn't help but smile. "Now you know what childbirth is going to be like," he muttered.

Ron glanced over at him and shook his head, a small smile on his face. "How do you do it? Deal with mum, I mean."

Mr. Weasley smiled. "I just learned that your mother's always right. As long as I knew that, I could deal with her little mood swings."

"Hermione's always right," Ron grumbled.

Mr. Weasley leaned back in the couch. "You'll get used to it."

"It's been eleven years, dad. I'm sick of it," he responded.

Mr. Weasley chuckled and patted his son on the back. "You'll be a great husband, Ron."

"Thanks, dad," he whispered.

* * *

Harry sighed, pushing the files away and looking out his door window. The lights were all out and everyone had left save for him and another Auror who had been chosen to stay behind to make sure no one tried to break in again. Deciding to take a walk around the building, he got up and left the Headquarters, taking the elevator down the main floor and walking over to the fountain, his mind wandering back to fifth year and the painful memories that came with it.

"Some things never change," came a familiar voice.

Harry turned around to see Ginny standing there, watching him. She was holding a box of papers as well as her purse. Her ministry robes were hanging of her shoulder and were unbuttoned, exposing her smooth legs and knee length black skirt.

"Taking your work home with you?" he asked.

"I wouldn't be the only one," she commented, walking over to him.

"Why didn't you tell me you were dating Helton?" he asked suddenly. She turned to him.

"I didn't think you cared, nor did I think you needed to know," he responded.

"I thought the saying was not to mix business with pleasure."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "It's not business if it's someone else's boss, Harry. Not mixing business with pleasure would be referring to what you did six years ago," she said bitterly, moving passed him.

"I thought you understood," Harry said.

Ginny looked over her shoulder as she continued to walk. "Oh I understood, Harry. After all, the hero likes to go solo and everything… what I couldn't understand is why, after six years, he never tried to go back to a duet," she whispered before walking over to the fireplaces and placing her stuff down.

Harry walked over to her, frowning. "Ginny-"

"I'm fine, Harry. Really. I've moved on, and you've moved on and I'm happy with Brendon," she said.

She reached out and took some Floo powder from the little vase on the small table. She was about to throw it when Harry took her arms and pulled her to him, their lips meeting. Ginny gasped into his mouth, surprised by his forwardness. Her heart once again began pounding, her mind remembering the lips that so boldly caressed hers with a desperate passion. Her body was so close to Harry's that she swore she could feel his heart pounding as well, but then again, her heart was beating so fast that it was heart to tell the difference. She could feel her knees wobble from the sudden onslaught and it took forever for her to realize what was actually happening. Pulling away, she held his face in her hands, her eyes closed. She took some deep breaths, trying to clear her mind from the protest at the loss of touch.

_Come on, Gin! What the hell was that?!_

She opened her eyes and gazed into his beautiful green ones. "You should know that I'm not that easy, Harry," she murmured before pulling away and grabbing some more Floo powder. She threw the powder down and announced her address before disappearing in bright green flames. Harry watched her go then closed his eyes, cursing his stupidity. Why had he tried something like that? He was supposed to be over her… right?

Harry looked around then cursed again.

_Get a grip, Potter_, he scolded himself. _She's not interested in you anymore. You broke her heart because you were too much of an idiot to realize that trying to be a hero meant losing her for good. Leave her alone. She deserves someone better than you. She _wants_ someone better than you…_

Harry sighed and looked over to the fountain. He needed to get back to work…

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

* * *

"Hermione, you awake?"

"Well, I am now," she answered, coming out of her room and smiling as he came over to her.

Ron pulled her to him, kissing her gently before leaning into her ear. "Are you ok?" he asked.

Hermione nodded. "I'm fine, Ron," she whispered, pulling away and walking over to her couch.

Ron followed her, sitting down beside her. "Hermione… about what you saw-"

"Can we drop it Ron?" she interrupted. "We've all agreed that I was hallucinating and I'm fine and you're fine, so let's not delve into it. Besides, it was three days ago," she whispered, her eyes on her hands.

Ron watched her for a moment then nodded, sighing. "Fine… we'll drop it," he conceded.

Hermione nodded, playing with the ring on her finger. It was a beautiful platinum gold band with a simple diamond on top. Though it wasn't the most expensive thing, the fact that it was Ron's grandmother's had made her heart swell with pride to wear it.

"I wish my parents could be here to see this," she whispered.

At this Ron stiffened and looked away. Instantly, Hermione wished she hadn't said it. Her mind went back to that horrible night six years ago and she looked up at him only to see the pained look in his eyes. She turned to him fully, touching his face.

"I'm sorry, Ron… I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay… I know you didn't," he whispered, getting up and walking over to the kitchen.

Hermione watched him go then looked back down at her ring, her heart pounding in her chest. They hadn't really talked about it. The fact that they had been dating and the fact that it wasn't _really_ his fault come into play with that part. She had just kept it in and he did the same, though she could tell that he was watching her, searching for any hints of her remorse. She just ignored it. She knew it hurt him to go on without talking about it but he didn't have the nerve to bring it up and shrugged her off every time she wanted to talk about it. Standing up she walked over to him, resting a hand on his shoulder.

"Ron… can we talk about this?"

"I always thought you never wanted to talk about it," he whispered.

"They were my parents Ron."

"And I'm the reason they're dead," he replied bitterly.

Hermione turned him around. "No… you couldn't control the situation," she said.

"I wouldn't have been in the situation if I had just listened to you," he muttered.

"Don't say that," she chided.

"It's true, Hermione."

"It wasn't your fault," she whispered.

"Yet you still blame me," he murmured, looking up at her through icy eyes.

Hermione took a step back. "I don't blame you," she defended, stunned.

Ron looked away. "Don't lie, Hermione. I can see it in your eyes sometimes… the way you look at me… you blame me for killing your parents…"

"It wasn't your fault!"

"But you still blame me!" Ron shot, turning to face her fully.

By now tears were flowing freely down her face as she shook her head. "I love you," she whispered.

Ron closed his eyes. He hated to see her cry, knowing he was usually the reason why she did. She walked over to him and pulled his face down to hers, kissing him deeply.

"I love you," she whispered again into his mouth.

Ron pulled away and buried his face in her neck, needing to hold her. They both just stood there, needing to feel something other than the pain.

* * *

"He kissed me! He kissed me!"

Hermione looked up and raised an eyebrow as a frustrated Ginny Weasley entered her office and flung herself into a chair. Hermione set down her quill and leaned back in her chair.

"I'm guessing we're talking about Harry?"

Ginny looked up. "He kissed me!"

Hermione sighed. "I gathered that much when you came barging in here. Would you care to tell me why you're so surprised?"

"Surprised? Surprised?! I'm not surprised! I'm pissed!"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "That's not the point. Now will you tell me what happened," she said.

Ginny took a deep breath to calm down and looked down at her hands. "We got into this little fight thing, if that's what you want to call it. It was more like me telling him how much of an arse he is, but not in those exact words," she added quickly. "I was about to floo away when he grabbed me and kissed me like that. Then I pulled away and told him that I wasn't that easy and left…" she babbled.

"You said that?" Hermione asked, surprised.

"Yeah, why?"

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Ginny… you just gave him the signal that says you're still open for discussion about what happened six years ago when all your actions as of late clearly say you're not," she explained.

Ginny frowned. "Really?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "You told him that you weren't that easy, which obviously means that you're inviting him to try harder, which _obviously_ means that you're willing to give him a second chance," she told her friend.

Ginny swore and put her face in her hands. "I'm an idiot," she groaned.

"So you don't want him to try harder?"

"Yes! I mean no! I mean… I don't know anymore!" she exclaimed in frustration. "I want him to leave me alone! I'm tired of being toyed around with. I accepted it for a while back in Hogwarts, but I can't keep putting myself out on a limb with a man who's too afraid to get close to anyone!"

"He kissed you," Hermione pointed out.

"SO! He's kissed me before, that doesn't _mean_ anything! He still broke my heart and I'll be hard-pressed to let him do it again," Ginny hissed.

"So you don't want him to try harder?" Hermione repeated, watching her friend with amusement.

"I… I just want to go on with my life without feeling confused," Ginny whispered.

"Harry cares about you," Hermione whispered.

"Harry's an arse," Ginny growled, standing up.

"Why did you come here if all you wanted to do was talk about something you didn't _really _want to talk about?"

Ginny sighed. "I don't know… I just wanted to vent, that's all… I was a little confused last night," she whispered.

Hermione stood up and walked over to her friend, pulling her into a hug. "Harry's a very confusing man," she whispered.

Ginny snorted. "I just want to be able to see him without feeling…"

"Guilty?"

"No! No, not guilty… condemned…"

Hermione held her for a while until she pulled away. Ginny leaned over and grabbed a tissue off Hermione's desk and dabbed her eyes. She took a deep breath and looked up at Hermione.

"So, how are you and Ron?"

Hermione shook her head, sitting back down. "I don't know… I accidentally brought up my parents and he clammed up again. He's convinced that I still blame him for what happened," she explained.

"But you don't… do you?"

Hermione shook her head furiously. "No! I've gotten over it… well, obviously I haven't gotten over it, but I don't blame him…"

"Are you ok, Hermione? I mean after what happened a couple days ago…"

"I'm fine, Ginny," Hermione said quickly, not wanting to talk about it.

Ginny watched her for a moment frowning. "Look, Hermione. I know you don't really want to talk about it but… what did you see?"

"It was a hallucination," Hermione assured Ginny. "It doesn't matter what I saw, it wasn't real."

"I know… I was just curious that's all. Ron said that you saw him…"

Hermione closed her eyes. "Yeah… I saw him… I saw him and something not worth discussing," she said. Thankfully for her, before Ginny could ask any questions, Christopher Winston, her boss, came in.

"Granger! You're needed now," he barked, glancing down at Ginny, who flushed and stood.

"Sorry… I was just going… Besides, I think I'll pay Ron a visit," she muttered, turning to Hermione. "I'll see you later, okay?"

Hermione smiled and nodded, watching as she left before turning to her anxious red faced boss.

* * *

Ron watched Harry pace in front of his desk, amusement dancing on his lips. Harry had just relayed the same story Ginny had in much less words. Ron just watched.

"Normally, this would be the moment where I'd pin you to the wall and tell you to stay away from Ginny."

"But you won't," Harry finished, still pacing.

"I've got enough to deal with without having my sister mad at me. That would mean that Helton's mad at me and then that wouldn't make for a good working environment."

"You're always trying to save your own job, aren't you?"

"I like my life as it is, thank you."

Harry glanced over at Ron then sat down. "Why did I bother talking to you?"

Ron frowned, observing the way Harry ran his hands through his unruly hair nervously.

"I thought you were over Ginny," he whispered.

Harry looked up. "I am!"

Ron snorted. "People who are over other people don't just kiss them randomly," he pointed out with a chuckle. "You still love her, don't you?"

"I… I don't know, Ron," Harry whispered. "It doesn't matter. She's with Helton and I shouldn't get involved. She deserves something better."

"That's what got you in trouble in the first place, Harry. That whole self-sacrificing thing," Ron said. He chuckled, looking around to the pictures on the wall. "Do you think I'd be able to get away with doing that to Hermione?"

"Hermione's different," Harry said.

Ron snorted. "Hermione and Ginny are persistent, annoying as hell, smart, strong and both of them happened to fall in love with stubborn arses. The only difference between the two was that you were stupid enough to fall in love with Ginny and then let her go," Ron said, grabbing a quill. He started writing something down when the door opened.

"Ron, can we… Never mind," Ginny said, catching sight of Harry. She put a hand on her hip, frowning. "It seems you already know."

"Ginny…" Harry started, standing up.

Ginny held up her hand, stopping him. "I came here to talk with Ron, not Harry Potter," she snapped.

"_Ginny_," Ron warned, standing as well.

Ginny glanced over at her brother then sighed. "I'll talk to you later," she whispered before exiting.

Ron studied Harry for a moment then smirked. "Oh yeah… you're definitely not over her," he commented. He grabbed his coat and started for the door. "Come on."

"Where are we going?"

"Fred and George's shop then Hermione's place. Hermione wanted me to pick something up for her," Ron explained.

"Hermione buys stuff from them?"

Ron glanced over his shoulder and smiled. "Hermione's always had a soft spot for the twins."

* * *

"Hello, Crookshanks," Hermione greeted, setting down her purse and picking up the fat thing.

The small animal purred loudly in Hermione's arms as she walked into her bedroom and set him down on the bed. Sitting down beside him, she took off her shoes and then began to unbutton her ministry robes, tossing them into a chair and lying down on her back. Crookshanks crawled up on her stomach and continued to purr.

Hermione reached up and scratched him behind the ears. "Are you hungry?" she asked.

Instead of purring, Crookshanks got up and hopped off the bed. There was a thud and Hermione frowned. She knew he wasn't that heavy. Sitting up she watched him move around on the floor then suddenly turn to her bed and start hissing. Getting up, she walked over to him and picked him up.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

The cat continued to hiss at the bed. Sighing, she set him down and got down on her knees, leaning over and raising the skirt of the bed. There was nothing there. Rolling her eyes, she got up and went over to her dresser.

"You're getting old, buddy," she commented as she pulled out a large t-shirt and some shorts. She wasn't planning to go anywhere else for the rest of the day.

She had just stepped out of the shower when she heard a yowl. Quickly getting dressed, she exited the bathroom and found Crookshanks glaring at her bed again, panting. Rolling her eyes, she bent down and picked up the feisty feline.

"What is wrong with you? Look," she said, getting on her knees and bending over, pulling up the skirt. "There is nothing under there," she said.

_**LISTEN TO ME!!!**_

Hermione only had time to scream before the thing lunged out from under the bed and surrounded her.

* * *

"Why are you guys here?" Ron asked, slightly annoyed.

Fred and George smiled as Ron pulled out a key. "We wanted to check in on Hermione. See how she was."

George frowned. "Why are you using a key?"

"It's a Muggle building," Harry whispered, glancing around.

Fred raised an eyebrow. "She lives _here_?"

Ron glanced over at them as he opened the door. "It's better than living on Diagon Ally," he commented before entering the flat.

"Hermione?" Harry called as they left their jackets in the small hall and entered the living room.

"Hermione likes to keep things clean," Fred observed with a smirk.

Ron rolled his eyes. "Just don't touch anything," he told them as he peeked in the kitchen. "She's probably taking a shower," he said.

George grinned and nudged Fred. "You know when she takes showers?"

Ron's face went completely red. Pushing passed them, he started for her bedroom. "Tossers," he muttered.

"NO!"

"Hermione!" Ron shouted, running to her door. Once again, it was locked. "Bloody hell," he growled, taking out his wand. "_Alohamora_," he muttered. It didn't open.

"GET AWAY!"

There was a loud scream then something crashed.

"Hermione!" Harry called.

"HARRY! HELP ME!" Hermione begged, pounding on the door. "NO!"

George came up. "Stand aside, Ron," he ordered.

Fred took something out of his pocket and slid it under the door. He then pulled Harry over to him as George moved to the opposite side, taking Ron with him. "Move out of the way," Fred told them before holding out his wand. "Open up!"

Sparks shot out around the door then it was wrenched out of its bolts, slamming into the hall wall. They all moved forward into the room looking around.

"Hermione!" Ron called, searching frantically for her.

"In here!" George called out. The three men ran into the bathroom to see George kneeling down beside Hermione, who was sitting against the shower corner, eyes closed. There were cuts all over her drenched body and blood floating in the shower base.

"Hermione," Ron gasped, kneeling down beside her as well, reaching out and taking her face in his hands.

Fred looked around, eyes growing big to see Crookshanks slink out of a cabinet, drenched as well. The cat meowed loudly, irate at being wet and looking rather indignant. Fred picked up the poor thing as George helped Ron with Hermione. Harry had gone back out into the bedroom and was looking around, searching for anything.

"Ron… there was no one in here," he said.

* * *

"So you mean to say there was no one in the room?" Mr. Weasley asked as he, Moody, Helton and a few other Aurors followed Fred and Harry into Hermione's bedroom. It was hours after the incident.

Harry pointed to the windows which were shut and then around the room. The only sign of disturbance was the shattered lamp and mirror. Some of the shards of glass were stained with blood. "Those windows are shut and you know as well as I do, you have to close them from inside."

"Not with magic," Fred pointed out.

Harry shook his head. "Whoever was in here wouldn't have had the _time_ to close the window even _if_ he was in here. Hermione was still screaming when Fred blasted the door open."

"Apparation?" Helton suggested.

Harry shook his head. "Hermione's flat, as well as Ron and mine are rigged so that you can't apparate into it. No one could have apparated into here," he explained.

Mr. Weasley frowned, looking around as Aurors busied themselves in picking up shards of glass and running over the room with charms. "But if no one was in here, then that would mean…"

"Hermione made the whole thing up," Harry finished.

"Why would Granger make this all up?" Moody asked, just as confused as everyone else.

Fred shrugged. "Maybe she was hallucinating like she said she was the last time," he offered.

Harry shook his head. "No… she never actually admitted to hallucinating until _we_ convinced her that no one saw anything. She thought it was real," he corrected.

"So you're saying Hermione Granger's gone mad?" Helton asked.

Harry shook his head. "_No_… I'm saying that she's not telling us what really happened."

**A/N: Things just keep getting stranger.**

**Wesker888:** Yes... very mysterious...

**someone:** I'm happy you're enjoying this.

**GTK-123:** I find it very interesting to write.

**NairobiDawn:** Just wait and see what happens next...

**Coconut Girl:** Well, each character has to have a story or it doesn't make for a good read! I was so happy to see you review! Hope things are going well and hope you update soon!

**sballLuvr5:** There certian things that will happen that even I can't explain.

**mione-ron-4ever:** Finding out what's going on with Hermione will take alot of work... and writing.

**Chapter Tease:**

_"He's dead," she whispered. "He's dead…"_

_Ron frowned, reaching out to touch her._

_"Hermione… who's dead?"_

_"Harry! Harry's dead!" she screamed._


	4. Feeling Alone

**A/N: This story is incredibly interesting for me...**

Hermione watched Harry move around the private hospital room, placing flowers by the window and some get well cards in their respective places. He was careful not to make eye contact with her.

"He thinks I'm crazy doesn't he?" she whispered.

Harry looked up and frowned. He set down the flowers and walked over to her bed. "Ron doesn't think you're crazy, Hermione."

"Then why am I here?"

Harry took her hand. "We just want to make sure nothing's wrong-"

"Because you think I'm crazy!" Hermione snapped, pulling her hand away.

"Hermione, that's not fair. No one thinks you're crazy. You've hurt yourself and you're just here to get better."

"You think _I_ did this to myself? You think I just had the wonderful idea to _lock_ the door, scare myself, cut myself up, _dump_ myself into the shower, and then scream bloody murder so that I can take a _lovely_ trip to St. Mungos where healers can jab at me with wands while my fiancé thinks I've lost my mind?!"

"Hermione! Everything you've told us hasn't been proven true! _No one_ was in your room _or_ in that bathroom," Harry said.

"I am _not_ making this up!"

"I'm not saying you are. All I'm saying is that you're seeing things," he responded.

"I'm not hallucinating either. There was something under my bed that attacked me and no one will believe me!" Hermione screamed.

"What's going on in here?" a healer asked, coming in and frowning.

Hermione folded her arms. "Nothing," she said, glaring at Harry. "Mr. Potter was just leaving."

"Hermione…" Harry started.

"I know what I saw, Harry," she hissed before looking away.

Harry sighed and left, letting the healer check up on Hermione. The woman held up her wand and a small light appeared at the tip. "Can you follow the light, please?"

Hermione did as she was told, watching the light go back and forth in front of her.

"Is she okay?"

The two women turned to see Ron standing there, watching Hermione with concern. The healer smiled and nodded. "Hermione seems to be doing okay," she answered before turning back to Hermione. "Another healer will be in shortly to ask you a few questions," she told her before leaving. Hermione waited until the door closed before turning a nasty look upon Ron.

"You think I'm crazy," she growled.

"Hermione-"

"Don't you Hermione me. You don't believe me!"

Ron slammed his fist down on the wall. "How can I believe you, Hermione?! Everything that's been coming out of your mouth has been proved wrong."

"Ron, something's after me," Hermione whispered.

Ron took a deep breath and sat down in a chair. "Hermione… Aurors searched your apartment as well as the Three Broomsticks… there was no one there," he whispered. "There was no trace of anyone having been there."

"I know what I saw."

"Maybe you were having a nightmare?" he whispered.

"Ron… it was _real_," she whispered.

"Most nightmares feel that way," Ron responded.

"Ron-"

"Ah, Ms. Granger. How are you feeling?"

The two looked over to the door to see an older man standing there with a warm smile on his face. Hermione glanced over at Ron then straightened up.

"I feel fine," she answered.

The healer nodded, coming over to her and pulling up another chair. "Well, my name is Henry Caldon and I'm just here to ask you a few questions about what you saw, so we and the Aurors can get a better grasp of what happened?"

"And so you can confirm my insanity?"

"Hermione," Ron warned.

The healer glanced between the two and frowned. "Sir, maybe it would be better if you were not here?" he suggested.

Hermione shook her head. "He's ok…"

Ron looked up at her but she avoided his gaze, instead taking the time to watch the healer. The healer looked over some notes then looked up. Ron frowned.

"Shouldn't an Auror be asking these questions, then?"

The healer turned to Ron. "The hospital would also like to have a grasp on what happened so that we can find out what happened and fix it," he whispered before turning back to Hermione.

"Now, Hermione. Can you tell me _exactly_ what you saw?"

Hermione glanced over at Ron then shook her head. "I don't know what I saw… It came out from under a bed."

"What came out of the bed?"

"I don't know what it was. It was like… almost like a dementor except it was more shapeless. It came out from under the bed and sort of surrounded me."

"What did it do?"

"At first… at first it didn't do anything except scare me but then… it grabbed me and held me down as something appeared from the darkness. Some sort of boy… he wasn't armed but he grabbed the mirror and slammed it down on my legs…"

The longer Hermione spoke the easier it was to see how real it was becoming for her. Her breathing was becoming labored as tears started coming down her face.

"And you really saw this, Hermione?"

Once again Hermione turned to face the two men, her eyes filled with confusion. "You don't believe me," she said.

Ron was about to say something when the healer cut him off. "That is all the questions I have, thank you, Ms. Granger. Mr. Weasley, could you come with me?"

Ron glanced over at Hermione before nodding and began to leave.

"Ron! You have to believe me!" Hermione called.

Ron stopped at the door and turned to her. "Get some rest, 'Mione," he whispered before leaving.

Hermione's heart sunk. He didn't believe her.

_**No one likes to believe crazy people.**_

Hermione's eyes darted around, looking for the source. "Where are you?" she asked shakily.

**_Poor little Hermy… _**

"Go away," she whispered, getting out of the bed and moving towards the door. "Tosser," she muttered.

_**I know you are but what am I? I know you are but what am I?**_

"Stop it, you annoying bastard!" she screamed.

_**I'm rubber and you're glue, what ever you say bounces off me and sticks to you!**_

"Stop it!"

_**Hermione's gone loony! Hermione's gone loony! **_

"Get away from me!" she screamed. "I'm not crazy!"

_**Loony Hermy! Loony Hermy!**_

Out from under the bed the black cloud swept and charged straight for her, surrounding her in darkness and pain.

* * *

"No, not that I know of," Ron answered, running his hands through his hair and glancing anxiously at Hermione's door. It wasn't that he didn't trust her, but he was just worried. She had been acting strangely lately and all signs pointed to insanity. He didn't want to believe the signs. 

"Now, Mr. Weasley. Have you noticed-"

"Get away from me! I'm not crazy!"

The two men stopped talking and Ron moved over to the door to hear something scratch the door then suddenly Hermione started screaming.

"Hermione!" He shouted.

"NO! NOT AGAIN!"

Once again, the doors were locked and magic wasn't working. The healer stopped Ron from using a particularly nasty curse.

"Those doors do not blast open. They are protected."

"What's going on?" Mrs. Weasley asked, coming up with Ginny. Harry took up the rear.

A crash came from the room and Hermione's scream suddenly took a different tone. They were no longer a tortured scream but a scream of complete terror. Sobs could also be heard between each scream.

"HARRY!" she screamed.

"We have to get in there!" Ginny exclaimed, touching the door. "Hermione! Can you hear me?"

Ginny's call was greeted with silence. Dead silence that chilled everyone present. Ron slammed his fist on the door.

"Hermione!" he screamed. He reached down and grabbed the handle again and this time, it opened.

For a moment, they all just stood there, staring at each other. The door had been locked… hadn't it?

Harry, being the first to come to, shoved Ron through the door, following close behind.

"Hermione!" Ron cried, falling to his knees and reaching out for her. She was in the corner; eyes wide open, staring at something. When he touched her she pulled away, tears running down her face.

"He's dead," she whispered. "He's dead…"

Ron frowned, reaching out to touch her.

"Hermione… who's dead?"

"Harry! Harry's dead!" she screamed.

Everyone looked over at a pale Harry Potter. Hermione followed their line of sight and started screaming upon seeing Harry, pushing herself closer to the wall and pointing to him.

"I saw you… You were dead!"

Harry took a step forward. "Hermione, I'm right here."

Hermione closed her eyes and shook her head. "No! NO! I saw you! I saw you! You were right there…" she trailed off, pointing to the ceiling. "No… You were there…"

Ron reached out and took Hermione's hand. "Hermione, stand up… it's ok, we're here now," he whispered.

As Hermione was led out of the room, she stopped and looked at the bed. Her eyes went wide and she started pointing to it. "The bed! Check under the bed! That's where it is! Check!"

Ginny glanced under and frowned. "Hermione, there's nothing under there," she whispered.

Hermione tried to get out of Ron's hold, running back to the bed. Harry grabbed her as well, both not wanting her to do any more damage to herself. She kicked around, shaking her head. "NO! Let me go!"

**_Bye, bye Hermione…_**

Hermione whirled around, looking around in fear. "Where are you? Where are you?!"

Ron watched her, concern evident in his eyes. But there was also pain. Hermione truly was losing her mind…

**_I'll come and play soon…_**

"STAY AWAY FROM ME!" Hermione screamed before several healers came and took her away from Harry and Ron. Hermione began thrashing about then she started to shake.

"What's happening?"

A healer pushed Ron out of the way, grabbing Hermione. "She's seizing!" he called out, grabbing her knees. Another healer conjured a stretcher and they lifted her onto it as she continued to convulse furiously.

"What's going on?" Ron demanded, trying to get over to her. A healer held him back as they carried her off down the hall.

* * *

"Hermione has a serious psychological problem," Healer Caldon said. "She doesn't seem to be able to find the difference between what's going on in her mind and what's going on in the real world." 

"Is she hallucinating?" Mr. Weasley asked.

The man sighed. "That is our main problem. We have not been able to tell whether she is hallucinating or making it all up."

"You mean you think she's lying?" Ron asked incredulously. "You think she cut herself up to get attention?"

"Mr. Weasley, at the current moment, we have absolutely no idea what to think. Hermione Granger says she sees things that no one else sees. She sees people dead when they are _obviously_ alive and no one is there when she sees it. The door is _always_ locked. Who else could have locked the door?"

"What if she's telling the truth?" Harry asked softly.

"Nothing came in that room, Mr. Potter. There was nothing when we left the room and there was nothing when we entered it again," the healer stressed.

"What about the bed?" Ginny offered. "In both instances she says the thing came out from under the bed," she said.

"What about the bathroom? There are no beds in a public bathroom," Caldon said.

"Well, it's a _public_ bathroom. Anything could have attacked her then disapparated," Ginny retorted.

"Ms. Granger said that it wasn't any creature _nor_ was it a man. There are no windows in that bathroom and whatever it was didn't come through the front door or someone would have noticed. Now everyone at the Three Broomsticks has testified and said that they did not see anyone else go to that bathroom. Unless there are new sorts of magical beasts going about that can do the sorts of things she described, then we must assume that the problem is in the mind," Caldon replied calmly.

There was silence for a moment then Ron ran his hands through his hair. "What could have caused something like this?"

"Suppressed feelings. Stress. Even certain curses, but from the looks of all of you, Hermione hasn't been attacked recently," Caldon said.

Ginny shook her head. "No… she hasn't been attacked… but she has been under some stress but as for suppressed feelings…" All of a sudden she stopped and all eyes traveled over to Ron, who had gone pale rapidly.

Caldon glanced over at Ron then shook his head. "Even if it was stress or suppressed feelings, these wouldn't be great enough to cause such severe hallucinations."

"Then what could it be?" Mr. Weasley asked.

Caldon sat back in his chair, sighing. "If you're certain she hasn't been attacked, other than the last three incidents, then all we can do is observe her for a few days. Make sure she doesn't do anymore harm to herself and see if we can find a reason for her problems," Caldon explained.

"What will you do?" Ron asked.

"We will put her in a room and just see what happens. It has always happened when she is alone so we will make her believe that she is alone. Family members are permitted in the observation room, if you are interested in seeing," he offered.

Ron nodded as well did the others. "I want to know what's wrong with her," he whispered.

**A/N: Ron's about to be in for the shock of his life.**

**Wesker888:** Hallucination, real life, tomat_oes_, tom_a_toes. Who can really say which one is real or not?

**NairobiDawn:** It get's better.

**Coconut Girl:** I'm glad you're enjoying yourself!

**GTKari-123:** She wasn't soaked in blood, just covered in scratches that bleed down to the drain of the shower.

**mione-ron-4ever: **You think that one was scary? Wait till you see the next chapter.

**sballLuvr5:** I always had stuff under my bed so I never worried about it. Though I hated going into my closet when it was dark.

**Chapter Tease:**

_"She killed him... SHE KILLED HIM!"_


	5. Really Don't Look Under the Bed

_**Warning: Graphic scene alert!**_

_I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell  
I know, right now you can't tell  
But stay awhile and maybe then you'll see  
A different side of me  
I'm not crazy I'm just a little impaired  
I know, right now you don't care  
But soon enough you're gonna think of me  
And how I used to be_

**Unwell by Matchbox 20**

"Ron… You should think about this," Ginny whispered.

"What's to think about, Gin? I need to find out what's wrong with her," he replied.

"What about that picture? That break in to your office? Have you thought about that?" Ginny demanded.

"We've thought of everything."

The two Weasleys looked up to see Moody and Harry standing there. Moody's magical eye was trained on Ron. "We might not have any evidence of anything entering your room but we definitely know that whoever it was, was interested in Hermione."

"But _no one's_ gone near Hermione that's an immediate threat. She doesn't even work in a place where she'd make enemies," Ron said.

"What about Azkaban?" Ginny asked.

"None of them have escaped and the ones who were let off due to lack of proof are being monitored and have been questioned. None of them have come close to Hermione," Harry answered.

"Was she ever attacked?" Moody asked.

Ron shook his head. "No. She was never attacked or anything. Nothing happened to her!"

"How do you know, Ron?" Ginny asked.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm just saying. Hermione probably doesn't tell you _everything_," Ginny said.

Ron puffed up, glaring at Ginny. "Hermione would have told me if she was attacked and even if she didn't, the hospital would have known about it. Then we wouldn't be here," he snapped.

"What if she didn't go to the hospital?" Ginny pushed.

"Damn it, Ginny!" Ron growled. "What do you want me to say? That Hermione's been hiding stuff from me?"

"It wouldn't be the first time," Ginny muttered.

Ron was about to go over to her when Harry grabbed his arm and pulled him back into his chair. "Shut it, Ginny," he growled.

She glared at him. "What? I'm being realistic here! Hermione might have been going through some things that she just didn't want to tell Ron about!"

"Did she tell you?" Ron snapped.

To that, Ginny had no answer. Ron snorted. "That's what I thought," he growled. "Hermione would have told some one. She would have told us if some one was following her or harrassing her."

"How do you know?" Ginny started again.

"Because! Hermione would have told us now if she was sane!" Ron bellowed.

A silence fell over them as they took in what Ron had just said. Ginny shook her head, frustrated with the answers. There had to be a simple explanation for this. They just weren't seeing it. She wasn't about to let Ron give up this easily. "There are _tons _of things it could be. What about ghosts?" she asked.

Moody shook his head. "No," he snapped. "It's not ghosts. Her room was protected from all entry from anything. We've protected it against every type of ghost we know of?"

"But _just_ the ones you know of?" Ginny asked.

"Ginny," Harry cut in. "There are thousands of types of ghost, spirits out there that we don't know of, but you know as well as I do that ghost don't do that! Not even a poltergeist does that and Hermione would have easily told us that she was attacked by one, not that they attack people. Even if she's telling the truth, what we're dealing with is way beyond our intelligence and we don't even have a decent description of it… It couldn't be a ghost, Ginny," he finished.

Ginny looked around then frowned. "So that's it. You're just going to torture her and experiment on her until you find out what's wrong?"

Ron glared at her. "Do you have a better idea?" he snapped angrily.

Ginny was about to say something when Moody shot her a look that told her to stop. Biting her lip, she leaned back in her seat and thought over everything silently. Harry just watched her while Moody's eye revolved around, peeking at everything people couldn't see. A healer came up to them.

"Ms. Granger is being put in the room. You can come now," he told them.

Moody stood up and patted Ron on the back. "She'll be fine. Tell me what happens immediately after. I'll be at the Ministry. Potter, I want you to come in tonight," he told Harry before leaving.

* * *

Hermione was set down on the ground, unmoving until they were about to leave. She then scrambled to the door. 

"Please… don't leave me alone!" she begged.

The healer in the room kneeled down. "It will be ok. We'll just be outside," he assured her.

She shook her head. "But he'll come again… he said he would come back," she whispered, not wanting _him_ to here.

The healer didn't know what to do. "He won't come back. This room is protected. You'll be fine," he said. "No one's going to get through these walls."

"But he doesn't _come_ from the walls," Hermione whispered, holding onto the man's hand. "He doesn't come from the walls."

The healer frowned. "Where does he come from?"

Hermione pointed to the small bed. "There. He came from there the last two times."

"What about the first time?"

"He came from the floor," she whispered.

The healer sighed and got up, pulling out his wand. The tip lit and he walked over to the bed and looked under. "There's nothing here, Hermione."

"That's because there's light," she whispered. "He doesn't like the light."

The healer got up and went back over to her. "Well, there's nothing under there. I have to go," he told her.

Hermione grabbed onto his leg, her eyes on the bed. "Please don't leave me alone. He'll come back."

"What does he do to you?" the healer asked, concerned.

"He hurts me."

The healer frowned but pried her off him. "I'm sorry, but I have to go." He slipped out and closed the door before Hermione could get out as well. She started banging on the door, begging to be let go. Behind one of the blank walls, Ron, along with Harry, Ginny, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley as well as some healers watched her. Ginny shook her head, watching Hermione carefully.

"I don't like this," she murmured, twiddling with her hair as Hermione continued begging to be let out.

"She's scared," Harry whispered.

"Of what?" Ron muttered, watching as she turned to the bed.

* * *

Hermione pressed herself to the wall, eyes on the bed. "Please… please…" she begged. 

**_That's not the magic word._**

Hermione's eyes got big and tears began to pour down her throat.

"Go away," she whispered.

_**No.**_

"They say you're not real," she whispered.

_**Maybe I'm not.**_

"That can't be. I can hear you. I can see you!"

**_But no one else can. Better face the facts, Hermione. You're a fruit loop!_**

"I'm not crazy. You're real!"

_**How can you be so sure? You have no proof of me. **_

"I'm not crazy!"

_**Then why are you talking to yourself?**_

"I'M NOT CRAZY!" She screamed, tears flowing down her cheeks.

**_Look at you, Hermione. You're a loony. No one believes you. Not even Won Won and Potty Pants…_**

"Leave them out of this," Hermione growled.

**_Why? This is what this is all about. Potty Pants and Won Won… Especially Won Won… He's the reason you cry at night. The reason your parents are dead…_**

"STOP IT," Hermione begged, covering her ears. She began to rock back and forth, more tears running down her face.

**_You hate him! It festers in you and you can't stand it…_**

"You're real," she whispered.

_**Only to you. Maybe you made me up. **_

"LIAR! I'm not crazy!"

_**Only crazy people see things that no one else can…**_

"GO AWAY!"

**_I can't go away if I never existed_.**

"YOU EXIST!"

Hermione opened her eyes and glared at the bed. That's when she saw it. The same darkness that had attacked her. It stared out at her through pale eyes from under the bed.

**_Prove it._**

Hermione's eyes blazed up and she got up, ran over to the bed and dived under it.

* * *

Everyone in the other room stood from their chairs, moving to the glass and watching her disappear under the bed. 

"What is she doing?!"

Suddenly screams came out from under the bed. Ron moved towards the door.

"I'm going in there," he said.

"LOOK!" Ginny screamed.

The white floor was getting stained with blood that flew out from under the bed. There were more screams then blood gushed out in torrents. Hands appeared from under the bed then disappeared again, followed by more tormenting screams. Ginny turned away, falling into the arms of the closest person. Harry. He held her as he watched the bed jerk around and more screams come out. Ron and several healers were already at the door. One blocked Ron from coming in.

"It's too dangerous. We can handle it."

"She's hurt!" Ron bellowed.

A healer had made it into the room surprisingly before the door once again slammed shut. Everyone watched as he carefully made his way over to the bed which was still jerking violently. He got down on his knees, wand out and ready.

"Hermione!"

An arm shot out and grabbed him, pulling him in. Everyone screamed as more blood appeared then something happened that made everyone's blood freeze. Hermione came out from under the bed, drenched in blood and shaking uncontrollably. She staggered about then fell to her knees vomiting. She was holding something tightly in her right hand. It looked sharp. She looked around, blood dripping everywhere then she looked down at her hand and dropped the object. Eyes wide, she looked over at the bed then back down at her hand. She scrambled back over to the bed and reached under, pulling the healer out. He was also covered in blood. His eyes were opened in shock, but he wasn't breathing. Hermione rolled him over and then fell back, eyes wide. There was a small bloody hole on his back. Large enough to have been made by the object Hermione had been holding.

"She killed him," Mrs. Weasley whispered. "She killed him… SHE KILLED HIM!" she shrieked before turning away. Mr. Weasley held her as he watched Hermione try to wipe the blood of her hands as she backed up into the corner. Ron just stood there, his mind numb as he took in the sight.

"Hermione…"

* * *

Guards lined the room as Hermione sat in the uncomfortable chair, watching Ron as he ignored her in his little corner of the holding cell at the Ministry. 

"They're sending me to Azkaban," Hermione whispered.

"I know," came Ron's bitter reply.

"They think I killed that man."

"I know."

"You think I killed that man."

Ron looked up into her sad brown eyes then looked away, running his hands through his hair.

"I don't know what to think, Hermione."

"How's Crookshanks?"

"Damn it, Hermione!" Ron yelled, slamming his fist down on the small table near by. Hermione jumped and looked away, rubbing her arm as Ron stood up and began to pace. "You're about to go to jail and all you can do is ask about your bloody cat?!"

"What am I supposed to do, Ron? No one believes anything I say!"

"What do you expect?" Ron snapped. "Not one person has seen what you've seen. You hear things that no one else can hear-"

"You make me sound like Harry," Hermione muttered.

Ron glanced over at her then continued. "You cut yourself up and now you just killed a man!"

"I DIDN'T KILL HIM!" Hermione screamed.

Ron pointed to the door. "There is a dead man out there and about seven witnesses that can prove otherwise, Hermione," he growled.

"You didn't see what happened under the bed. He did it, Ron. I wouldn't kill that man."

"_There was no one there_," Ron hissed, continuing to pace. "There was no one else in that room, Hermione."

"Why can't you believe that maybe I might actually be telling the truth?" Hermione asked.

"Because there's no proof!" Ron bellowed. "There's no proof, Hermione! The Hermione Granger I know always has proof…"

"The Hermione Granger you know also doesn't lie about something like this," Hermione whispered.

Ron stopped and looked at her for a moment and then his shoulders sagged. He leaned against the wall and rubbed his eyes. "I want to believe you, 'Mione… I really do," he whispered.

Hermione's heart broke in that moment and tears fell down her cheeks as she watched Ron battle with himself. She could see that he was struggling between what he had seen and what his heart was telling him was right. Getting up, she walked over to him, glancing over at the Aurors that were watching her carefully. She touched his arm, biting her lip.

"Ron… I'm telling the truth," she whispered.

Ron looked up at her, reaching up to caress her cheek. He then leaned in and kissed her, gently brushing away the tears that fell harder at his touch. Hermione stepped closer, opening her mouth to his, letting him explore. He then pulled away slightly and looked into her eyes.

"I'll find a way to get you out," he whispered.

"I didn't kill him… you know I wouldn't kill anyone."

Before Ron could answer, Moody entered with several Ministry officials. Moody glanced over at Ron and frowned.

"I suggest you go, Weasley," he said gruffly.

Ron eyed the officials then turned to Hermione. "I've got to go," he whispered.

Hermione nodded, looking down. Ron took a hold of the side of her head and kissed her brow, holding her close for a moment before leaving. Hermione watched him leave before turning to the men.

"My story hasn't changed," she whispered.

**A/N: Oh boy... it looks like this whole thing has been taken into a whole new level! Let's hope that they can make it through! The tension's mounting, not only between Hermione and Ron but between Ron and Ginny. **

**mione-ron-4ever:** I've noticed that everyone has noticed that one little detail.

**NairobiDawn:** Thanks!

**Wesker888:** Everything is going on!

**ShadowKatIceGrl:** It boggles my mind everytime I read my work. Even I don't under stand some of the things I write.

**Idunn:** I _love_ dialogue!

**sballLuvr5:** Make sure you do that!

**Coconut Girl:** The thing with the break in, everyone brought up, but you brought up a topic that wasn't going to be discussed for another few chapters. (ghosts)

bint.

**cheeky splash:** According to me, nothing like this has ever happened in the wizarding world.

**charma10:** I'd like to say it gets better but everyone knows that I'd be lying.

**Due to popular demand, (Questioning on the break in at Ron's office), I took about five minutes to add the first scene just for all of you. FIVE MINUTES!!! I hope I explained somethings without delving into it. I was going to get to one of the options mentioned a bit later in the story but since you all wanted it, I added it. Hope you enjoyed!**

**Chapter Tease: (It's not long b/c I added that whole scene in the beginning.!**

_"Mr. Weasley is a liability!"_


	6. Red Heads

**Disclaimer: ... Not mine.**

"Hermione's not a cold-blooded killer, Moody," Ron grumbled, his head resting on the briefing table. About seven other Aurors and a few other Ministry officials stared at him, some with worry and others with slight disdain.

"I didn't say it was done intentionally, Weasley. She could have worked herself up into a frenzy under the bed."

"Yeah, while she was jabbing at herself with a broken piece of _sharpened_ iron," came Ron's muffled reply.

"If you have any other idea that might explain how the same piece of metal in her hand was also the same piece that was _jabbed_ into the healer's back?" Moody growled.

" Maybe she didn't do it? Or maybe he slipped?"

"For someone who seems so intent on proving that their fiancé is innocent, you don't seem too eager to give up any evidence that would prove just that."

"That's because those officials over their have their arses so bent on shoving her in Azkaban that I haven't had actually been asked to testify," Ron growled.

"Excuse me!"

"Mr. Weasley is a liability!"

"His connection with Ms. Granger is to close to make an unbiased testimony!"

Ron stood up, glaring at the protesting officials. "That's bullshit and you know it! You just don't want me in that courtroom anymore!"

"The last time you testified, you made a mockery of every man there _and_ you were held in contempt for insulting not only the Minister but his wife!"

"She's a whore! But that has nothing to do with what's happening now! I have every right to be at that hearing as Harry and you bloody well know it!"

"Weasley, out! Now!" Moody barked, moving out of the door. "You too, Potter."

Harry went over and grabbed Ron, who seemed to have a few more words to say to the insulted men. Harry shoved the angry red head out the door, but not before one more insult was fired.

"Bloody tossers!" Ron growled before the door was slammed shut and Moody had Ron up against the wall.

"What the HELL is wrong with you?!" he demanded.

Ron shrugged him off, running his hands through his hair and pacing. "I should be at the hearing," he growled.

"Oh, so your way of getting yourself in is calling the Ministry a bunch of tossers?" Harry asked, snorting.

"That's what got you in trouble the last time you went to testify. I told you to watch yourself or that mouth of yours is going to get you into some trouble," Moody hissed.

"Ron… Hermione's only chance of getting out of Azkaban is if you cooperate with those Ministry officials," Harry whispered.

"They can go to hell," Ron muttered.

"Damn it, Weasley," Moody swore. "If you don't start acting like an Auror, I'm going to suspend you and then you'll never be able to get into that hearing. Understand?" he growled.

Ron looked like he was going to explode, but he just kept his lips shut and nodded stiffly. Moody then glanced over at Harry. "Take him home," he ordered.

"I don't want to go home," Ron grumbled.

"What was that?"

Ron looked down at the floor. "Nothing."

Moody glared at the two men then went back into the conference room. The hall was silent for a moment then Ron looked over at Harry. "You're not going to scold me?"

Harry shrugged, starting to walk towards the exit. "I figure that's Hermione's job. Besides… The Minister's wife _is_ a whore."

Ron offered a wane smile and the two left.

* * *

Ginny sighed and got up from the table, walking over to her front door and looking through the peep hole. Frowning, she opened the door. 

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Harry looked around then up at her. "Can I come in?"

Ginny bit her lip, glancing back in her flat then out at Harry. "Well, I kind of have-"

"Potter? Is that you?"

Harry froze at the sound of his superior. Helton appeared at the door and leaned over Ginny's shoulder to get a better look at who was there. "Hey, Potter. What are you doing here?" he asked curiously.

At first Harry just stared, but Ginny coughed and he blinked. "Sorry… I… I was here to talk to Ginny about Her… about something," he answered.

Helton smiled and nodded. "Family matters, no need to say anything. I've got to go anyway. Seems your brother's gotten himself in trouble with Moody," he said to Ginny, holding up an official looking letter.

She glanced at Harry then back at Helton, frowning. "You don't have to go," she whispered.

Helton shook his head. "Potter seems to need to speak to you alone, and I really have to go. After all, important people have important things to do," he said with a smirk.

Ginny smiled and rolled her eyes. "Smart ass," she muttered.

Helton grinned and gave her a quick kiss before taking out his wand and moving out the door. "I'll see you later," he said before disapparating.

Ginny stared at the spot he had just occupied before turning to Harry, her smile fading rapidly. "Well… come in," she whispered, moving aside so he could enter.

They walked over into her small kitchen where she started picking up dirty dishes.

"You were having dinner?"

Ginny set the plates down rather hard and turned around, brushing some hair out of her face. "Yes, Harry. That's what people do. They have dinner, they talk and they have fun, not that we could have any fun at this point, but of course, you don't know much about fun anyway, seeing as you spend most of your time at the Ministry," she said before turning around again.

"What is your problem?"

"My problem? I don't have a problem. I'm just surprised that you're here," she responded.

"Why are you surprised?"

"Because… you know what… I don't feel like discussing this particular topic with you, because it usually ends with you clamming up and my temper shot. I don't need that right now, so why don't you just tell me why _you're_ here," she said quickly.

Harry watched her for a moment then sighed. He also wasn't ready to go back to that particular topic. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a file. "Ron's not allowed to go to the hearing," he said.

Ginny frowned. "What? Why?" she asked, moving over to him quickly and picking up the file.

"His big mouth, maybe?" Harry offered, watching her read the order.

"She's a whore? Bloody tossers?" she read with an eyebrow raised. "He said this?"

Harry nodded and Ginny snorted, sitting down in one of the stools. "I'm surprised he didn't say anything worse… he's always been an idiot," she murmured. She frowned and looked up at Harry. "Why did you come here?" she asked.

Harry sighed and looked down at his hands. "Ron's no longer allowed to see Hermione either and he's going to need someone to talk to."

"What about you?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "I'm going to be too busy avoiding the Ministry's stupid questions while I deal with the upcoming hearing. I'm just lucky the Ministry hasn't seen me as a liability," he whispered.

"You're always a liability," Ginny muttered, getting up from her seat and moving over to another counter. "So you came to give me a heads up? Well, thank you, but I think I can handle my brother, Harry."

"The Ministry's going to ask you questions about Hermione."

"Well, I _am_ a witness, Harry."

"Do you think she killed that man?" he asked.

Ginny was about to answer when she stopped and looked away. "I don't know what to think, Harry. She… We all saw the same thing, yet she insists that someone else was there! Hermione's not crazy but even I know sane people don't see and hear things that aren't there," she whispered.

"So I guess I'm not sane," Harry muttered.

Ginny closed her eyes and silently cursed herself. "I didn't mean it that way and you know it," she whispered. She looked up at him. "Hermione _believes_ that she's seen something that doesn't even exist… You… you were different, Harry… Hermione doesn't have some Dark Lord chasing after her."

Harry sighed and looked down. He thought for a moment then he got up, grabbing the file. "Come on," he said, heading for the door.

Ginny watched him go. "Excuse me?"

Harry turned to her. "You know that I'm useless in finding books. I need your help."

"Where are we going?" she asked, grabbing her purse and jacket.

Harry smiled. "Hogwarts."

**A/N: Here you go!**

**mione-ron-4ever:** 1 has been answered and 2 will be answered in the next chapter. As for 3, I have no idea because I haven't thought that far ahead but thanks for asking! As to how long it will be, I don't know. If I keep making my chapters long then probably around 10-15, but if I decide to go for the short and un informative effect then it could be as long as The Lord's Judgment.

**cellogirl:** I wouldn't say that you're dying to know, because everytime someone says that, someone in the story dies.

**cheeky splash:** It wasn't actually a knife. Just a broken piece of iron from the bottom of the bed. As for everything else, it will be answered eventually.

**GTKari-123:** Heated up? No, my dear, the stove has just turned on and the pan's still cool my friend.

**charma10:** I like that. Fun and unpredictable.

**sballLuvr5:** It's hard to believe crazy people. Even when they _think_ they're telling the truth. ;-)

**Wesker888:** I like to keep my readers on their toes.

**Due to the fact that my computer shut off and erased unsaved chapters, I will not be updating for about a week on this story. I'm sorry. The Lord's Judgement will be updated and finished before then. God willing!**

**Chapter Tease:**

Hermione ran to the bars and began pulling on them. "You have to let me out! He's coming back! Don't leave me alone!" she screamed.

**_I'm back, Hermy! Loony Hermy! Loony Hermy!_**


	7. One Step Closer

**A/N: Sorry it took so long! I've just been busy with so much other stuff that I haven't had time to update. Really sorry. Just for your wait, I'm giving you two chapters in one update!**

**Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent.--_ Marilyn vos Savant_**

Ginny glanced up from the book she was reading, observing Harry as he looked over several books. Her mind went back to that kiss. She knew she shouldn't be thinking about it, but just the fact that he had kissed her made the action even…

_Stop it, Ginny. This is Harry Potter we're talking about. He broke your heart!_

Sighing, she looked back down at the book, flipping through the pages, trying to ignore the old librarian lurking behind the shelves.

"This is hopeless, Harry. We're not going to find anything in here," she muttered.

Harry looked up at her. "We have to find something. This is Hermione we're talking about. Where would she look if she was trying to find something that sounds strangely like the Boogeyman?"

"The Boogeyman?" Ginny asked confused.

Harry shook his head. "It's just some stupid monster made up by Muggle parents to scare children. The monster lives under the bed and doesn't come out until the lights are turned off. Children say that they see it but it's not really there," he explained.

Ginny thought for a moment then looked up. "Well, what if Hermione's seeing something that _is_ there but no one else can see it? Like the Boogeyman."

"The Boogeyman doesn't exist, Ginny."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "I know," she said, standing up. "But this is a magical world. Anything is possible right," she said, moving off to the back of the library.

Harry watched her go then followed her as well. He found her looking around some shelves, muttering to herself. She was so beautiful.

_Stop! Don't you start that again, Potter,_ he scolded himself, turning away and looking at some shelves also. _Don't start thinking about her like that again_.

"Here," she said, pulling out a book. She walked over to him and opened it.

"Muggle Myths and Magical Realities," Harry read.

"It gives you all the creatures that are made up by Muggles but actually exist. Like the Yeti," she said. She went to the table of contents and started going down the titles. "There! The Boogeyman," she whispered. Flipping to the page, she frowned.

"The Boogeyman doesn't exist in either realm, Ginny," Harry whispered.

"What about a boggart?"

"It's possible, but boggarts don't just disappear and they can't lock doors. We would have known if it was a boggart," Harry replied.

Ginny sighed and closed the book. "What else could it be?"

Harry shook his head. "I don't know…"

They stayed for another hour before leaving the library and began walking down the familiar halls of Hogwarts.

"Ah! Harry! Hermione! There you are!"

The two turned to see Nearly- Headless Nick floating up to them. They smiled and waved.

"Hey, Nick. How are you?" Ginny asked.

"Good, good. It has been a long time since I've seen you two together. What are you doing here?" the spirit asked curiously.

Harry glanced over at Ginny. "Hermione's in trouble so we decided to see if we could figure out what was happening," he told Nick.

"Is she ok?"

Ginny shook her head. "She's in Azkaban awaiting trial," she whispered.

"My goodness! What happened?"

"We don't know. She says she's seeing things that no one else can see. And now, she's being accused of murder."

"MURDER!" Nick exclaimed.

"Shhh!" Harry scolded. "It's hard enough, we don't need the whole school knowing," he told the ghost.

The ghost nodded and began to follow them towards the entrance. "What do you mean, she's seeing things that no one else can?" he asked.

Ginny sighed and explained the whole thing while Harry stood beside her, looking pissed. When she was done, Nick seemed to be thinking.

"Have you thought about ghost?" he asked.

Ginny glanced over at Harry before shaking her head. "It couldn't be a ghost. We would have known… right?"

"I've heard of something like this, though never around here," he told them.

Harry looked up. "You have?"

Nick nodded as well as he could without having his head fly off. "Years ago, a group of teachers visited the school from America. It was an interesting bunch. But there was this one that seemed particularly interested in us ghosts. He talked to all of us frequently. He spoke of these ghosts that roamed the Caribbean actually. Said they were much more mischievous than us. Can't remember the name though," he said.

"Can you try?"

Nick thought for a moment then shook his head. "Sorry. I can't help you there. But I do remember him saying that while most people are not aware of them, certain people can see them at any time. The spirits are generally associated with evil acts and such nonsense."

Ginny turned to Harry. "It sounds exactly like what Hermione's seeing," she whispered.

Harry nodded then looked up at Nick. "Thank you so much," he said before the two left.

As they walked down the trail to the gates, Ginny glanced over Harry, biting her lip. She stopped, watching him. For a moment he didn't realize she had stopped and kept walking but then stopped and turned. "You ok?" he asked.

Ginny watched him for a while longer then shook her head. "Yeah… I'm fine," she whispered, moving past him.

Harry watched her go then hurried to catch up with her. "Hey, Gin…"

She turned around. "What?"

He hesitated for a moment then sighed. "What did you mean when you said you weren't that easy?"

Ginny's eyes got wide for a moment then she bit her lip. "I… I don't know what I meant but it doesn't matter," she snapped, starting for the gates again.

"What do I have to do?"

"What?"

"What do I have to do? To get you back?" Harry asked.

Ginny opened her mouth to say something then she shut it, looking slightly confused. She then shook her head. "It's not that easy, Harry. I'm involved with someone else…" She sighed and looked down at her hands. "Besides… I don't want you to change just because of me…" She walked over to him and touched his cheek. He reached up and took her hand.

"I really blew it didn't I?" he whispered.

She smiled and nodded. "Yeah… you did," she answered before she turned around and started walking. "Come on. We have to get back to the Burrow."

* * *

Hermione flinched as the door opened and someone came in. She looked up to see Remus Lupin standing there, watching her. She looked around, fixing the messed up covers and then smoothing down her hair. Remus went over to her and took her hands, trying to calm her down. 

"Have you been hurt?" he asked as he sat down in a chair provided by the guards.

Hermione just looked at the ground, pulling at her hair.

"Hermione, look at me. Have you been hurt?" he asked again.

Hermione looked up through dark eyes. "He came last night… he came but he couldn't get out," she whispered.

"Who? Who came?"

"I don't know his name," she whispered. "I just know that he couldn't get out this time."

"What do you mean?"

Hermione looked down at the bed then pointed to it. "I have to look under the bed," she whispered. "He couldn't get out because I didn't look under the bed."

Remus watched her for a moment then looked down at the book in his hand. "Hermione… you're hearing things, aren't you?" he asked.

Hermione looked up at him. "Just because you don't see it doesn't mean it's not there," she muttered.

"People don't get attacked by beings that don't exist, Hermione."

"HE EXISTS!" Hermione screamed. Her eyes suddenly got wide and she crawled over to the corner, covering her ears. "Go away," she whispered.

"You're hearing it again," Remus whispered.

"Why hasn't Ron come?" Hermione asked suddenly, looking up at the man.

Remus was taken back for a moment then sighed, rubbing his eyes. "Ron isn't allowed to see you nor is he allowed to go to the hearing, Hermione," he whispered.

"Typical," Hermione muttered.

"Hermione," Remus said, surprised.

"He doesn't believe me," she whispered.

"Ron loves you."

"But he doesn't believe me… How is Tonks?" she asked, switching gears again.

Remus watched her carefully, his mind wandering back to St. Mungos and the ward he had visited on several occasions.

"Hermione… Did anything happen during the Last War that you're not telling us?" he asked suddenly.

Her head snapped up and her eyes filled with something close to fear. "What makes you think something happened?" she snapped.

"It's a perfectly reasonable question."

"With no reason for asking," Hermione replied.

Remus sighed. "Hermione… You can't keep hiding like this…"

"I'm not hiding from anything. You assumed I was."

"What happened, Hermione?"

"What happened to Tonks?"

If it was ever possible, Lupin turned completely pale. His shoulders sagged and his eyes clouded over in pain. Coughing, he looked away from her.

"You never answered the question."

"You never answered mine," Hermione whispered.

"Times up!"

Hermione looked up at the guard and glared at him. "I would like more time," she said.

The guard smirked. "Well, isn't that sweet. Wouldn't we all? Come on, Lupin, out you go," the guard said.

As Remus rose, Hermione watched him carefully.

"Everyone's done something they've regretted, Remus. I'm no different," she whispered.

Remus stopped and turned to her. "What did you do, Hermione?"

She looked up at him through haunted brown eyes. "You believe me, don't you." she murmured. It was more of a statement than a question. A statement that sent a cold feeling down Remus's spine.

He watched her with wary eyes, trying to figure out her logic. _What was the logic of someone considered insane? Was there a reason for their madness or were they just… insane?_ "I regret many things," he whispered.

Hermione looked down at her hands. "Insane is what they call people when all other _logical_ explanation has gone out the window…" She looked up at him. "You were there when everything made sense… You remember…"

Remus's eyes got big. "Hermione…"

"James and Lily Potter weren't the only ones who were betrayed…"

"Let's go!" the guard snapped.

Remus glanced over at the man then back at Hermione, stunned by her revealing confession. "I do remember…"

"I never told Ron the truth… You have to do that for me…"

"Hermione-"

"Now!"

The guard opened the bared door and let Remus out. As Remus left, he stopped and turned back to Hermione. She peered through the bars and bit her lip.

"Tell Ron I'm sorry…"

* * *

"I can't stand this! I want to see her!" 

"Well, Ronald, if you hadn't insulted the Minister's wife, you would be seeing her," Mrs. Weasley remarked, taking a sip of her tea and watching her son pace in the kitchen.

"She shouldn't be left alone," he muttered.

"She murdered someone, Ron-"

"NO! That is _not_ true!" Ron snapped, slamming his fist down on the counter. "Hermione wouldn't kill someone. She's never killed any one."

Mrs. Weasley stared at her son in amazement. "Can you honestly tell me that you don't believe that she didn't do it? We all saw what happened, Ron."

Ron shook his head. "Hermione's not a killer."

Mrs. Weasley went over to her son and rubbed his back. "No… she's not… but she's not completely innocent either."

"Maybe she is."

The two looked up to see Ginny and Harry standing at the door, watching Ron. Ginny held up a book and placed it on the counter.

"We went to Hogwarts and talked to Nearly Headless Nick. He's heard of something similar to what Hermione's going through," she told them.

"Ghosts?" Ron asked, looking at the page that was dog-eared. "You think this is a ghost? Haven't we been through that?"

"That's the best thing we have," Harry said.

Ron snorted, smiling slightly. "No offense, but ghost can't tip mirrors over," he said.

"Damn it, Ron! Can you stop acting like a child long enough to see how much sense it makes?! It explains everything!" Ginny snapped.

There was a loud crash and a scream. Ron was glaring at Ginny with a look that could kill.

"NO IT DOESN'T!" He bellowed. "IT DOESN'T EXPLAIN WHY SHE'S HURT ALL THE TIME AND IT DOESN'T EXPLAIN THE BLOODY HEALER THAT TURNED UP DEAD!"

"Ron!"

"NO! You think I don't care!" he growled, advancing on Ginny, who started backing up out of fear of her angry brother. "A ghost doesn't explain a bloody thing," he hissed before storming out of the house.

**A/N: Wow... _ok_... I altered the Chapter Tease I gave you. It was supposed to be at the end of the Remus/Hermione thing but I decided to change it... along with my whole plot... not that that's a bad thing, though it probably is... anyway... What was I saying?**


	8. Hermione's Peter Pettigrew

**A/N: Here's the second Chapter!**

** If you can't make a mistake, you can't make anything. -- _Marva Collins_**

The hearing was in one day and the friction between Ron and everyone else was mounting as the hours grew shorter. Though Hermione had not had any more episodes, she was still begging the guard to let her go. Ron was still trying to get back into the hearing but his temper was still getting the best of him.

"What do you think is going to happen to her?" he asked softly, staring out the window.

Ginny glanced over at Ron then back down at her book. "I don't know, Ron…" she answered.

Ron turned away from the window and looked over at his sister. "They're going to put her back in Azkaban," he whispered.

"Don't talk like that," Ginny said, setting down her book and getting up from the chair.

"What else am I supposed to say?"

Ginny bit her lip and sighed. "I don't know, Ron… you still think she didn't do it."

"You think she did?"

"I don't know, Ron! Things are so confusing right now… Everything-"

"Points to her," he interrupted. "Yeah, I've heard."

Ginny was about to respond when someone knocked on Ron's door. She glanced over at Ron then went to answer it.

"Hey, Harry," she greeted, letting him in, noticing his slightly taken back look. She cocked an eyebrow. "Were you expecting a snide remark?"

Harry shrugged, taking off his jacket. "I don't know what to expect from you," he responded.

Ginny rolled her eyes and went back to the small living room where Ron was still staring aimlessly out the window.

"I was able to get into the files of several wizards who were from the Caribbean," he told them.

Ron turned to Harry. "You still think it's a ghost?"

"Ron, it's the only possibility aside from assuming Hermione did it herself," Harry replied grimly.

"Why the Caribbean?" Ron asked.

"Nick said that the person, who ever he was, came from there," Ginny said.

"Did you find anything?" Ron asked Harry.

Harry pulled out a few files and put them down on the coffee table. "There are a few Death Eaters in there," Harry said. "But most of them didn't prove to be any threat."

Ron picked up one file and flipped through it, his eyes traveling over the picture of a young man with dark eyes. Ron frowned and went to a different picture, his eyes growing.

"I know this man," he whispered.

Ginny got up and took the picture from him. Gasping, she looked down at Ron.

"This isn't him, is it?"

Ron looked up at her, surprised. "You know about it?"

Ginny nodded her head, her eyes on the picture. "Hermione told me what happened," she whispered.

Harry frowned. "What? What happened to Hermione?" he asked impatiently.

Ron glanced down at the picture then up at Harry. "You were busy trying to find Voldemort. Hermione and I were sent to get some information on a certain Constantine Raden."

Harry's frown deepened. "_The_ Constantine Raden?"

"Yep. The same git who cut up all those little girls for fish food."

"Ron!" Ginny scolded, appalled at his choice of words.

"What? It's true."

"Yeah, but a little respect would be nice," she snapped, glaring at him.

"What does this have to do with that guy?" Harry asked, cutting in before Ron could lash back at his sister.

"_This _guy," Ron said, pointing at the picture, "Ian Herman. He was Hermione's partner…"

"What?" Harry asked, snatching the file and looking through it. "This says he was a Death Eater…"

"Ian Herman was Hermione's partner while she worked with the Ministry and the Order in intelligence. The Ministry thought he was clean. You and I were out of town when she found out he wasn't. Hermione walked in on him talking to Constantine himself. Turned out Herman was supplying Raden with Hermione's information. Raden disappeared and was never found," Ron said. "Rumors spread that Hermione, feeling betrayed, might have actually killed him, but since there was absolutely no evidence that theory went down the drain."

"Did Hermione know what really happened?"

Ron shrugged. "If she did, she never told anyone. The Ministry suspected her for a while; since the two were close they thought she might be up to something. The details of the whole thing are fuzzy. Even I don't know the whole thing."

"How do you two know and I don't?"

Ginny looked over at Harry. "I know because Hermione told me…" She turned to Ron. "I don't know how you knew," she added.

Ron ran his fingers through his hair. "The same day, I had gotten information that Constantine would be in London. It was the same day I left without saying anything. Moody said you already had enough to worry about without adding Hermione to that list. Technically, the Intelligence sect was supposed to be a green zone," he explained.

"Does this mean?" Harry asked. "Herman's the voice Hermione's hearing."

Ron shook his head. "I doubt it. No reason for the bugger to stay here."

"But Hermione might be hiding something that she's not telling us. She might know something about what really happened to this Herman guy than anyone else-"

"She does."

They turned to see Remus Lupin standing there, watching them. Ginny got up and went over to him.

"What do you mean?"

Remus glanced over at Ron then sighed. "Hermione's done more than any of you really know. Ian Herman was a rat. Worked for both sides and Hermione got pulled into working with him." He turned to Ron. "Though the rumors about the affair aren't true, the two _did_ get a little too close for Dumbledore's liking. He sent me to look over the whole thing and keep an eye on Herman. Make sure he didn't do anything while you were gone. Herman had a rather interesting… _obsession_ with Hermione."

Ron stared at Remus. "What did she do?"

Remus sighed and looked out the window. "Hermione regrets what she did…"

* * *

"_Granger, wait!" the Auror screamed after her before she disappeared into the building. _

_The Auror, Jason Hanaway turned to Remus Lupin and pointed. "Follow her! Constantine is a dangerous man and I sure as hell don't want to be on the receiving end of an angry Ronald Weasley's wand," he ordered, turning back to several other Aurors who were trying to think up a plan. He then turned back around to Remus. "Oh and Lupin. If you see Herman… He knows too much…" He left the rest hanging._

_Remus pursed his lips and nodded silently, grabbing his wand and ran into the abandoned factory after Hermione. The only good thing about this was that it was high noon so there wasn't a shortage of light coming through the broken windows as he passed by old Muggle machinery. _

"_Hermione," he whispered. There were some footsteps and murmurings, but it was all echoing off the metal and making it hard to tell where it was coming from. Remus went up a flight of stairs to the second floor where papers littered the floor as retired machines sat in neat rows, the eerie grave yard casting a foreboding feeling around the werewolf as he moved silently across the vast room. _

"_Ian!"_

_Remus froze, looking around and ducking behind some sort of printing contraption. Peering out from behind it, his eyes grew when he saw the sight before him. Hermione was standing there with her wand trained on Ian Herman, her partner, while he and another man, Constantine Raden, Remus guessed had their wands on her. Constantine didn't look to pleased with the situation, while Ian looked slightly pale. Constantine looked between the two and then turned to Herman._

"_Take care of her, Herman or I'll take care of you," he growled before disapparating. _

_Herman and Hermione now faced each other. Hermione was biting her lip while shaking her head in disbelief. _

"_Ian… how could you?"_

_Ian shook his head. "You don't understand… you'll never understand what I've been goin' through," he responded in his thick Jamaican accent. _

_Hermione's eyes were tearing up. "You've been working for _him_ the whole time… How long were you working for him?"_

"_It doesn't matter, Hermione. I got what I wanted and now I'm getting' paid extra," he growled. _

"_You bastard!" Hermione screamed. "I… You stole all of my information! I told you things…" Hermione suddenly slapped her hand up to her mouth, a horrified look on her face. "Oh my God… I told you about Harry…"_

_Ian smiled. "And I thank you for that. The time we spent together meant everything to me."_

_Remus decided now was a good time to make himself known. Standing up, he pointed his wand at Ian._

"_Expelliarmus!" he said._

_Ian's wand went flying and they both turned in surprise to see Remus. _

"_Remus!" Hermione gasped. _

"_Avada Kerdava!"_

"_REMUS!" Hermione screamed._

_Remus ducked out of the way and soon the large room was filled with curses flying everywhere as Hermione took cover under some piece of equipment. When the dust cleared, Ian was on the floor, leaning against the wall, his wand lying just a mere inches away from his fingertips. Hermione looked around and found Remus in a similar situation. He was leaning against a machine, cradling his arm. His wand was no where to be seen. They were both bleeding badly. Hermione stood up, gripping her wand with both shaking hands. Remus glanced over at Ian then at Hermione._

"_Kill him, Hermione," he whispered. _

_Hermione's eyes grew wide in fright and she looked over at Ian as he watched her carefully. He smiled, his teeth stained with blood._

"_What are you going to do, Hermione? Kill me?"_

"_Kill him, Hermione. He won't survive even if you let him live so kill him now," Remus whispered. _

"_Hermione's not a killer. She couldn't kill someone she loves."_

"_I DON'T LOVE YOU!" she screamed._

"_But you can't kill me," Ian sneered._

"_Kill him, Hermione!" Remus yelled._

_Hermione closed her eyes, trying to block out all the words. This wasn't happening. She had just betrayed her friends… Ron…_

_Ian smiled. "She can't do it. She'll never be able to do it," he mocked._

"_Hermione!" Remus called._

_Hermione opened her eyes, her hands shaking even more. She couldn't do it. She couldn't kill him…_

_Ian closed his eyes and made a painful grab for his wand. "See you in hell!" _

_With that, he disappeared. _

"_Lupin! Granger!" Hanaway called out, coming up the flight of stairs, backed by ten other Aurors. _

"_Over here," Remus responded, his eyes on Hermione. _

_Hanaway looked around and then at Remus. "What happened to Herman?"_

"_Herman got away," Hermione quickly replied, wiping angry tears from her eyes before pushing past the man and going down the stairs…_

* * *

When Remus was finished, the room was silent. Ron was staring down at his hands while Harry and Ginny kept a wary eye on him.

"Why would she lie?"

"Because, Ron… the next day, the Auror camp you and Harry were at was attacked by men following _her_ information. She slipped up. She allowed Herman to get the better of her and that landed _you_ in the hospital for two months with no one knowing if you would live or not. She couldn't let you know her mistake. Because to you… and to everyone else who didn't know about it… Hermione Granger doesn't make mistakes. Hermione Granger isn't… weak…" Remus answered quietly.

Ginny looked around then turned to Remus. "You don't think Ian Herman's doing something like this, do you?"

"It's certainly possible. There's still certain types of magic we haven't figured out yet. If this thing is from Herman, then there's no doubt he's back again," Remuse answered.

"We need to tell the Ministry about this. This could help, couldn't it?" Harry asked.

Remus shook his head. "The Ministry already knows about Herman. They won't contribute that to her new state of being. Even if she's acting normal."

Ron looked up. "You saw her," he whispered.

Remus nodded. "This morning, actually…"

"Why did you never say anything about this?"

Remus sighed and stood. "I dealt with my rat from my past… Hermione has to deal with hers…"

**A/N: This was really interesting to write, not because of the fact that Hermione's now become a much more interesting character, but because reactions haven't always been my strong point. Hermione's reaction to Herman's betrayal was hard to write because on one end, I wanted her to be her kick ass self, but on the other hand, she had made herself vulnerable to this man and he had betrayed her. She still had some sort of feeling for him and killing someone isn't as easy as it may seem. I wouldn't know personally, but Hermione, unlike Ron and Harry, who have been fighting ever since they got out of sixth year, has never actually killed a man. So being ordered to kill someone who she had gotten very close to was something hard for her and hard for me to write. I hope you all liked it.**

**ronandmion4ever:** That's exactly right! I don't do anything of the sort! ;-) Your response made me laugh as well. As for Hermione. Her trials are just starting to get worse.

**mione-ron-4ever:** Sorry it took so long!

**Coconut Girl:** Not nessecarily a Dark Lord... Technically, we don't even know if she's telling the truth about seeing things. She _could_ be making this up.

**GTKari-123:** Don't worry. Once we hit the trial, the temperature will sky rocket.

**NairobiDawn:** Well, my friend, we are in for a lot of angst!

**sballLuvr5:** Oh gosh! Ron and his temper tantrums are what I live for! That and the fact that he's incredibly sexy. But that's just a bonus:-)

**Chapter Tease:**

_"LOOK OUT!" Hermione screamed._

_Flashes of light could be seen through the smoke as people tried to hit the thing that was bent on getting at Hermione. Something hit the bars and Hermione whirled around. _

_"Harry!" She gasped, moving over as he blasted open the keyhole and opened the small grated cell Hermione was in. She stumbled out and pulled him into a hug, sobbing._

_"It's ok... It's ok... I'm here..." he whispered, stroking her hair as she sobbed. _

_She pulled away. "Where's Ron?"_

_They looked around the desolated room and Harry pointed, eyes large. "There!"_

_"RON! BEHIND YOU!!" Hermione screamed._


	9. Disappearance Act

**A/N: I hope the next book is sooooo worth this wait.**

"Hermione… Hermione," Remus whispered.

Hermione looked away from the guard that was standing close by.

"Remus? What are you doing here?" she asked.

Remus glanced over at the guard then back at her. "Just wanted to know how you were doing before the trial starts," he answered.

"I'm fine," she murmured.

Remus frowned. "Ron wants you to know that he's sorry for what happened and that he doesn't blame you at all. He says you have no reason to apologize for what happened," he told her.

"That doesn't sound like Ron," Hermione whispered.

Remus shrugged. "You know Ron. He doesn't say it in those exact words but you know what he's trying to say."

"Why can't I see him?" Hermione asked.

Remus looked down the hall, out of Hermione's vision then back at her. "Actually… I think he's here. Ministry laws and what not," he said before standing up. Hermione gasped and stumbled out of her chair. Ron's eyes got big and he went over to her, pulling her into a hug as she tried to do the same, though her hands were bond together tightly in magical handcuffs. Ron looked down at her hands.

"I always imagined you in cuffs, but never like this," he whispered.

Hermione broke out in a sob and he kissed her before holding onto her tighter, stroking her hair as he tried to calm her down.

"Shh… It's ok… It's going to be ok," he whispered.

"I missed you so much," Hermione cried softly.

Ron helped her back in her seat, eyeing the guard near by with disdain. "You haven't been hurt have you?" he asked.

Hermione shook her head as Ron's eyes roved over her, checking for any sign of foul play. "I'm fine, Ron," she insisted.

He looked up at her, touching her face. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?" he asked.

Hermione bit her lip. "I didn't think you should know…" she whispered. "I'm not that strong."

Ron shook his head, kissing her again. "You've made it this far without breaking…"

"You don't think I killed that man?"

Ron shook his head. "I don't think you're guilty," he answered.

* * *

Harry sat where he was told, sighing as he watched several old men take their places upon their golden thrones of judgment. Many of them he recognized from the years of the Last War. He had been ordered to testify against many Death Eaters in front of these men. He hated them all. Right beside him was a sort of grated cage. It looked more like one of those penalty boxes he had seen on the Muggle televisions during his trips to America. Some sport using ice skates but the name eluded him for the moment. Hermione would be sitting in that small little box in a moment's time. 

Harry stiffened when he saw Ginny come in, escorted by none other than Helton. She was holding his hand while she led the way over towards where Harry was sitting. Ginny however, didn't seem too thrilled on sitting next to Harry with Helton present and sat a row behind Harry and a few seats down from him. Harry glanced behind him to see Helton pointing at Harry and watching Ginny with a very concerned look. She turned to him and shook her head. When he whispered something, Ginny just gave him a quick peck on the lips then turned back to the small circular hearing room, avoiding Harry's gaze. Harry sighed and turned back to the center as well. He wished Ron could be there, but the poor red head had been forced to stay out side of the hearing room and then had been removed to the Auror Department when he had spotted the Minister's wife and had said something less than acceptable. Moody wasn't in the best of moods as well, his throat hoarse after his little private talk with Ron.

What surprised Harry was that Dumbledore was here. He sat down near the door with Moody and Kingsley was conversing quietly with Alastor while eyeing the cage curiously. Harry had to remind himself to find the old man later and talk to him. It had been so long.

"Now that we are all here, let us bring in the accused," one of the older men said.

Everyone turned towards the grated cage and Harry watched in dismay as Hermione appeared from the ground, tied down to a chair by magical chains. Though she had spent a good week and a half in Azkaban, she looked rather good. She didn't look like many of the people Harry had seen on his trips to the dreaded place.

"Ms. Hermione Jane Granger. You are here today because you have been accused of the murder of Healer Preston Callon. After a brief update on what went on, you will be given the opportunity to recount on the events surrounding this tragic happening. Understood?" the old man asked.

Hermione looked around and froze, her chocolate eyes pinned on the poison green fingernails and the unending scribbling on the exhausted pad of paper.

"What is she doing here?" she asked quietly. It seemed her question was directed to Harry, who was near by. He glanced up and froze as well. He hadn't noticed her slink in.

Anger boiled up his blood as he glared at the unwanted woman. "I don't know…"

"Am I understood, Ms. Granger?" the old man repeated tersely.

Hermione turned to him, her eyes cold. "Sure… you're understood," she responded just as sharply.

Another man spoke up. "I suggest you watch your tone, Ms. You're treading perilous waters as it is, so keep the cheek in check."

Hermione didn't respond. Satisfied, the old man, George Charleston, nodded to a much younger man, Harry recognized to be Herald Vander. A stuffy son of a bitch who had had his eyes on Hermione ever since she had gotten out of Hogwarts. Her and Ron hadn't really been dating yet. It was more of an understanding that Vander hadn't gotten. Harry had hated him the moment Vander had introduced himself to him and Hermione and had been sure to mention it to Ron the next time they had seen each other.

"At five fifty-five o'clock on April 22, Hermione Granger was placed into a safe room for observation of her mental sanity. Five minutes into the observation, Ms. Granger headed for a bed placed in the room and disappeared under it. Within minutes, blood was seen coming from under the bed and Healer Preston Callon entered the room to help her. Ms. Granger was seen pulling Mr. Callon under the bed and after a struggle, Ms. Granger appeared from under the bed, covered in blood and holding exhibit A, the murder weapon," Vander said, holding up a bag containing the sharp piece of metal.

"I didn't pull him under the bed!" Hermione protested.

"Hermione," Harry growled in warning.

"Ms. Granger! I suggest you keep your mouth shut until Mr. Vander finishes the report or I will send you back to Azkaban for failing to comply with the law," Mr. Charleston advised.

Hermione shut her mouth and glared at Vander as he continued. "Ms. Granger then proceeded to go back to the bed and pull out Mr. Callon, who was already dead," he finished.

Mr. Charleston turned to all those who were present. "Now you have all heard the report on the murder of Healer Preston Callon. We will now hear Ms. Hermione Granger's testimony as well as the testimony of several others who were present." He turned to Hermione. "Ms. Granger. You may _now_ start," he said.

Hermione pulled at the chains which only constricted tighter around her wrist and ankles and sighed. "I was put into that room so those Healers could observe me. Something spoke to me from under the bed and I went to go shut it up. It _tortured _me. I don't care if you don't believe me, something was under that bed and that's what killed Callon, not me. I've never killed any one…"

"The Ministry does have a record of one case in which a Death Eater was killed by your hand, Ms. Granger," a woman from the Judgment section responded coolly.

Hermione sat up straighter. "Well, I think the Ministry had better check its documents again, because I have _never_ killed any one," she shot back, her eyes back on the woman with the ugly glasses and scaly jacket. The quill was still going. The older man began to say something but Hermione was paying attention. Something else had grabbed her attention. By the door, something seemed to be troubling the guards from outside because one had come in and was now whispering to Moody about something that seemed urgent. Alastor's magic eye swiveled around so that it was looking at the door where the guard had come from. He stayed like that for a moment then got up and left the hearing room with the guard without another word. Hermione felt the cold chill when ever she knew he was near and began to move around more, pulling harder at her bonds. This only created more problems, causing the chains to tighten painfully. That's when panic set in and Harry was the first to notice. She was making little noises of frustration as she continued to pull and then she would gasp as the pain came. Sweat beads were starting to form and her hair was starting to stick to her back as she relentlessly tugged at the impervious chains.

Harry leaned forward. "Hermione… Hermione calm down… Hermione, calm down," he whispered to her.

She didn't seem to be listening as she leaned her head back and continued to pull. She was biting her lip hard and she could already taste the blood.

"Ms. Granger, what is that matter?" Charleston demanded.

She continued her pulling. By now, the bonds seemed to be cutting off her circulation, seeing as her hands had turned purple. She began to moan and her eyes bulged. "Let me go," she groaned.

Harry glanced over at Dumbledore, who was watching her carefully then kneeled down, looking down into the cage. "Hermione, you need to calm down. Nothing's going to happen in here," he hissed.

Hermione looked up at him. "He's coming…. He's coming, Harry… He's coming to get me…"

"Hermione, what are you talking about?" Harry asked.

Before she could answer, Moody came back into the hearing room and closed the door behind him. He walked as fast as he could over to where the Head of the hearing was sitting and began to whisper fast to the old man. He was cut short by a knocking on the door. Hermione held perfectly still as she watched the door in horror. A man stood up and went to the door.

"NO! DON'T OPEN THAT DOOR!" Hermione screamed.

_WOOSH!_

Pandemonium broke out as the doors burst open and the man was surrounded by something black and smelly. Curses flew as people gaped at the thing that had entered the room. Curses did nothing but hit opposite walls and cause debris to fall down, making the room fill up with smoke. Hermione continued to scream until the thing seemed to look straight at her. It came rushing for her, enveloping her cage in a blanket of horror and excruciating pain.

"NO!!" she screamed as felt her lungs constricting as the pressure crushed her.

Suddenly the thing left her and began to circle the room, grabbing random people and goring them in the nastiest ways possible. Hermione looked down and realized that her hands and legs were free, so she stood up and began pounding on the ground. She spotted Ginny and then pointed behind her.

"LOOK OUT!" Hermione screamed.

Flashes of light could be seen through the smoke as people tried to hit the thing that was bent on getting at Hermione. Something hit the bars and Hermione whirled around.

"Harry!" She gasped, moving over as he blasted open the keyhole and opened the small grated cell Hermione was in. She stumbled out and pulled him into a hug, sobbing.

"It's ok... It's ok... I'm here..." he whispered, stroking her hair as she sobbed.

She pulled away. "Where's Ron?"

They looked around the desolated room and Harry pointed, eyes large. "There!"

"RON! BEHIND YOU!!" Hermione screamed.

Ron, who had just come through the hearing room door, looked around and ducked just as the thing flew over him, straight for Hermione again. Harry grabbed Hermione and pulled her down to the ground, placing himself over her as the thing surrounded them and began to constrict them. Ron ran for the large black shadow and was about to fire when Harry came flying out and knocked him down. They could hear Hermione's screaming as the thing ballooned then compressed. Then it disappeared completely.

"HERMIONE!"

* * *

The fact that Hermione had been let off of all charges didn't cool down the raging inferno that was Ronald Weasley. Not only did he have a few words to say with the overseer of the whole thing, but he also had enough burning anger inside of him to let loose a few choice words on Alastor Moody, who, instead of getting mad, was rather impressed with Ron. That still didn't help Ron's mood. 

Aurors had scoured the entire wizard London and even some parts of muggle London, but Hermione was no where to be found. Harry was out with them while Ron was stuck in the conference room. Just because Moody didn't get mad didn't mean he trusted Ron's judgment at the moment. Helton and Ginny were also with him, looking over files together as they whispered softly. Ron was just thankful that they weren't cuddling or anything. Just sitting there talking. Sighing, he looked down at the file in his hand then tossed it on the table, jolting the two on the other side of the room out of their conversation. Ginny watched her brother with concern.

"They'll find her, Ron. You know Harry will find her," she whispered.

"She shouldn't be missing in the first place," Ron replied, standing up and moving for the door.

Helton stood up. "You know I can't let you out of this room until Moody comes back."

Ron glanced over at him and nodded, running his hands through his hair. "Yeah… I know…" He looked around then froze. "Helton?"

"What?"

"Do you know the man Constantine Raden?"

"Raden? You mean Constantine 'Cut 'er up' Raden the Death Eater? The one who chopped up those girls for dog food?" Helton asked, surprised by the enquiry.

Ginny frowned. "Why does everyone insist on being so disrespectful," she huffed, crossing her arms in disdain.

Ron rolled his eyes. "Yeah, him. Do you know about him?"

Helton snorted. "Who doesn't? I mean, _I_ wasn't in charge of him, but I've heard stories of what those Aurors found. Some say he did it himself but others said he just gave the orders. The Ministry never actually found out about that," he responded, frowning. "What about him?"

"Do you know anything about the type of magic he used?"

Helton paused for a moment in thought. He then nodded. "I'm not exactly sure if this is accurate, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I heard that he dealt with Voodoo," Helton told him.

"Voodoo? Are you sure? I didn't know that was actually magic?"

Helton shook his head. "Well, it wasn't really _Voodoo_. It was more like Gothic magic," Helton corrected himself.

"Gothic Magic?"

"I think it has to do with more of the spirits and stuff and less of the whole wand thing. I think that's what they called it. Doesn't really sound like an appropriate name though," he replied.

Ginny looked over at Ron. "You don't think that's what he's using? Gothic magic?"

Ron shrugged. "I wouldn't know."

They all turned to see the door open and Harry come in, Moody and Kingsley following him. Ron went over to them. "Well?" he asked.

Harry shook his head. "We didn't find anything. The hearing room's been searched thousands of times but there was nothing found there either. Whoever took her really knows how to hide her," Harry commented.

Ron glanced around then moved past Harry. "Not for long," he growled.

"Where are you going?" Moody barked.

"Diagon Ally," he called over his shoulder.

"Why?"

"To see Fred and George."

"You think he's hiding her _there?_" Harry asked.

"No, but they might know someone who might know where she is," he said before disappearing around the corner.

Moody turned to Helton, Ginny and Harry. "I want you three to stay on his ass and if he gets out of your sight, I'll have all of _your_ arses, even your Weasley," he growled.

Ginny's eyes got wide and she nodded before following Helton, who lead her down the hall by the hand. Harry was stopped by Moody, whose eyes were on Ginny.

"Don't let what ever it is you have for that girl get in the way of the decision making. You may know more about war than any one else, but Helton's in charge so listen to him. He's not like you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Harry asked, frowning.

"He doesn't let his personal life affect his work," Moody growled before shoving Harry off towards a waiting Ginny.

Harry glanced behind him at Moody then went over to Ginny who frowned.

"Are you ok?" she asked.

"I'm fine…" Harry responded. "Where's Helton?"

"Right here," the man responded, coming out of his office. He looked around. "You two ready?"

Ginny offered a faint smile at him though it was obvious by her pale features that she was worried, and sighed. "As ready as one can be when going to visit my two brothers," she replied.

Helton smiled and began to move off down the hall, followed by Ginny. Harry lagged behind slightly, his eyes on Ginny. Would he let his affection for the small feisty red head get in the way of his decision making?

Time would only tell…

**A/N: I decided to add the first scene when the thought hit me that they might not be able to talk to each other again. I didn't want to do the whole Blood and Chocolate thing where it just ends. SO! **

**mione-ron-4ever:** Don't worry. I don't type this up after dark either.

**GTKari-123:** Well, you got your wish. I gave them one last BANG! before she left... I'm cold...

**NairobiDawn:** Well, now everyone knows she's not insane.

**Wesker888:** Nice job on Crawling.

**cheeky splash:** I love to tease my readers. It keeps them wanting more because their so confused.

**sballLuvr5:** I hope this chapter is good.

**charma10:** I always want to make at least one chapter where nothing's actually happening but the reader understands what's going on and get's an insight in the life during the War.

**LunaSky:** Quite a few people are asking themselves that same question.

**HerFathersJoy:** I love my job!

**A/N: Apparently, people are finding this hard to read at night... I couldn't imagine why...**

**No Chapter Tease. (I haven't written the next chapter yet!)**


	10. Silence

**Disclaimer: "Who are you and what have you done with Hermione Granger?" - Ron Weasley (OotP)**

Arriving in Diagon Ally, Ginny glanced over at Harry.

"Did you check that factory Lupin mentioned?" she asked.

Harry nodded. "Yeah, I checked it. Twice actually. There's nothing there. The Ministry even has it searched at least twice a year since… Well since that incident with Raden," he replied.

"Where would that thing take Hermione?" Helton asked.

Ginny shrugged, stepping into the shop.

* * *

Hermione pressed her back to the wall, gasping for breath while trying to keep quiet. She could hear it coming and her heart started to beat into overdrive, drowning out everything else as the pulsing filled her ears. Closing her eyes, she looked down the two halls then down the hall straight in front of her. She knew if she didn't pick fast she'd have to go through the whole thing again and that was _not_ something she was interested in doing. The whispering drew ever closer and, taking a deep breath, she plunged down the dark hall before her. 

Screams.

Pleading.

Putrid smells.

The only thing that kept her moving was the inevitable torture that trailed behind her and the only thing that kept her from going too fast was her fear of the unknown torture that would await her.

Whispering.

Cries for help.

Laughing.

* * *

"Ron! Harry! What are you two doing here? Doesn't Hermione have some sort of trial or something?" George asked, coming up to the small group. 

"Hermione's missing," Ron growled.

That killed the whole mood that had been George. His face changed from happy to see them to an alien sad that was hardly ever there.

"What? What happened?"

* * *

Hermione looked behind to see if the thing was still following her. To her surprise and utter horror, the only thing behind her was a wall. Turning back to the hall, she was confronted with yet again, three different paths that hadn't been there before. She could feel the cold chill come closer and started down the hall to her left, trying to drown out the teasing walls that mocked her. 

Screams.

Pleading.

Putrid smells.

Hermione tripped and fell to her knees. A sob escaped her parched lips. A moan escaped from the walls around her.

Whispering.

Cries for help.

Laughter.

Silence.

Looking up, Hermione let out a silent sob.

Silence.

* * *

"Something came and took her," Ginny answered, watching Ron carefully. 

"Then what are you here for? Shouldn't you be out looking for her or something? I'll go get Fred and we'll come and help," he offered.

Ron shook his head. "I need you to tell me who sells you some of your ingredients that aren't exactly legal," he said.

George instantly glanced over at Helton and stiffened. Ginny noticed the look and shook her head, taking Helton's arm. "He's not going to say anything, George," she assured him.

* * *

The dead forest around her trapped the silence that the moon provided from above and with it, her as well. Getting up, she looked around and froze. 

Silent death on horses watched her through dark masks. Provoked her. Dared her.

She dared.

Turning around, she began to run, the pounding drum terrifying her as she crashed through rock and thorn, her pale legs a beacon to all those who welcomed the taste of fresh blood.

The drum beats grew louder as Hermione continued to run for her life, her bleeding legs calling for the phantoms behind her to move faster.

Hermione stopped.

Before her were ten of them. Death.

* * *

George looked the man over for a moment then went to the back then appeared again with a paper. Handing it to Ginny, he pointed to the door. 

"I suggest you not be seen with that," he advised before disappearing into the back again.

* * *

Hermione started to back up but the pounding had arrived and they surrounded her. Hermione looked for a way out but she could see none. 

Then it started raining. The dead forest no longer glowed from the moon but was agitated by the lightening that lit up the sky.

They disappeared.

Hermione looked around and they had just disappeared. The only thing left was the comforting caress of the rain as it fell into this forsaken forest. Hermione closed her eyes.

* * *

"This is the place," Ginny whispered, looking around uneasily as people moved by. 

"They get their stuff from here?" Helton asked.

"You make it sound as if they're doing something illegal," Harry muttered.

"They _are_ doing something illegal, Potter," Helton responded, annoyed.

Ginny grabbed Helton's arm and steered him in, glaring at Harry as they entered the small shop. Ron walked up to the counter and rang the small bell.

"Hello?" Ginny called.

"What can I do for you?" came a thick female Jamaican accent.

A woman, maybe in her mid forties, appeared, setting down a vial of what looked like blood and her eyes went to Ron.

"Did your brothers run out of that seed already?" she asked

Ron shook his head. "I don't know what you're talking about and frankly I don't care. I'm here to ask about Ian Herman."

The woman grew passive and she smiled.

"Ian," she whispered. Then she shook her head. "No… Ian Herman disappeared during the war," she said

"How do you know?" Harry asked.

"Why do you think Hermione's still alive?"

* * *

Opening them, she gasped. She was there again. The old muggle building. The abandoned one that had brought back so many bad memories including the one of betrayal. 

Whispering.

Screams.

Pleading.

* * *

Everyone crowded around her. 

"You know about what happened?"

The woman looked over at Helton then at Harry.

"I might know something, but if I tell you, I might end up where the soulless rest," she replied.

Ron shook his head. "You're not going to go to Azkaban if you tell us. If you don't tell us then that would be failing to comply with a murder investigation and that could land you in Azkaban," he said.

The woman eyed them warily then turned to one of the shelves in the darkly lit shop.

"A man came in asking for a specific clove. Now, I'm not going to tell you the name of the man because it was false."

"Did he ask for anything else?"

The woman grew quiet. She turned to them.

"He asked of a spirit I wish not to speak of. It is an evil thing that creates misfortune for the one who it is brought upon. The man did not seem to care about that though. He asked more questions but I refused to answer them."

Ginny turned to Harry. "That sounds exactly like what Nearly Headless Nick was talking about," she whispered.

Ron glanced at them then turned to the lady. "What does this have to do with Hermione?"

* * *

Putrid smells. 

Cries for help.

Laughter.

Silence.

* * *

"Hermione Granger is the target of such a creature." 

"Why?"

"Because the man who came to me told me."

"What's going to happen to her?"

"I don't know that."

* * *

Hermione felt small at the moment and the walls closed in on her. Her heart pounded in her ear and the overwhelming smell of fresh blood filled her nostrils. 

Growling.

Looking up, she screamed.

Long claws came down. Burning pain as blood spilled out onto the ground. Trying to crawl away, the thing grabbed her leg and twisted it.

Screams.

Laughter.

Whispering.

Wind.

Hermione continued to scream in excruciating pain as hot pincers dug into her back and began to pull her back. She could hear her leg break. Her arm snap. Her lungs scream as she was pulled into great hole that had not been there before, leaving a thick red trail of blood on the floor. A great black hole that swallowed her whole. Screaming, gnashing needle point teeth met her as she fell. Met her as the hole closed up, plunging her into utter darkness.

Pain.

Silence.

The blood glistened in the pale moonlight.

* * *

"Did you hear that?" one Auror asked as they went around the factory. 

"Yeah. It sounded like a crash or something."

"A crash? It sounded more like a scream," the man said.

His partner glared at him and the two made there way up to the second level of the muggle place.

"Why are we still here? Potter checked this place out twice already," the second man said, looking around.

They looked around for a moment, searching the ground around the machines before the second Auror sighed.

"It must have just been something falling," he suggested.

The first one shook his head. "I swore I heard someone scream."

"We've looked over this place three times now. There's _nothing_ here. Now come on, let's go. This place gives me the creeps," the second guy said.

The first Auror sighed and nodded, following his friend down and out of the building.

An old man, watching the two men leave smiled.

**A/N: Just in case any of this was confusing, all of this happened at the same time. Think about it.**

**LunaSky:** Well, from what you just saw now, that whole making it up thing could still be questioned. I mean, not that black thing, but her sanity could.

**Wesker888:** Personally, I think Ron takes it rather well when she goes missing... ;-)

**Lisha:** Well, you know Ron. He's like a volcano... or an agrivated dog. One little push in the wrong way and he'll be at your throat, even if it was something silly... _hint, hint_. :-)

**LitaFanForLife:** I'm glad! This chapter was probably the weirdest one I've had to write.

**NairobiDawn:** I'm actually doing that, but it's still in its early stages so I'm not going to delve into it.

**cheeky splash:** Well... in the end, Ron kind of believed her, but you can't really blame them. There was no proof to prove otherwise so what were they supposed to believe. Her word against what they _all_ saw? As to how they find her. Don't worry!

**sballLuvr5:** You flatter me too much! I never said I was going to kill anyone... yet...

**charma10:** Locking her away would probably be merciful. What I just did was mean. And trust me, it's going to get a _lot_ worse.

**Warning: The next chapter will contain some _very_ graphic violence. Maybe worse than what I did in Living in Sin but I'm not sure yet. **

**No Chapter Tease. The next chapter _has_ to be a surprise or I wouldn't have put that warning.**


	11. Never Say Die

**WARNING! This chapter might contain some graphic violence so I suggest if you don't like that type of stuff then don't read it. Oh, and I hope you remember some of the information given about C.R. in Hermione's Peter Pettigrew. **

******The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.**

**Joseph Conrad**

"Wake up, Hermione…"

Whispering. No… it wasn't whispering. It was too loud. Too demanding. Too needy. It surrounded her as she faded in and out of consciousness.

"Wake up, my little flower…"

_Make it stop_, her mind begged as the sounds grew louder and the light grew brighter. She could feel it now. The sticky sweetness roll over her hanging body.

"Wake up you ungrateful whore!"

Pain. Undeniable pain!

"AHHHH!"

Opening her eyes to the horrifying reality that was her life was not the only thing that caused her to scream. She knew where she was and she knew that voice.

"SHUT UP!"

More pain. Either that or she was just imagining it. No matter. It went away quite fast along with her voice. Shadows danced off the walls as someone circled her, holding a wand in one and something unidentifiable in the other. She didn't want to know what it was but judging by the way it was glinting in the overbearing light below her, she guessed it was sharp.

"I've healed certain injuries you've sustained during your stay here, but don't expect all of them to be gone," he whispered.

Hermione was still getting over the pain.

"Do you know how long I've been waiting to be alone with you again?" he asked.

"No, but I can estimate," she replied in a ragged breath.

More pain.

"Don't you dare talk back to me. This is my moment and if you start, I'll just kill you right now," he growled.

Hermione glared as he walked by.

"Now… I'm sure you know why you're here," he whispered.

She didn't answer. He smiled.

"You learn fast. I'm ashamed though. All of this could have been avoided with one simple change of heart."

"You're an obsessed, crazy son of a bitch," Hermione spat.

The sharp object made contact with her broken leg and was pulled down just slightly. Enough to make her scream and for the light to go out. There was a moment's pause then the light came on again. The man grabbed her face and pulled it close to his.

"You're pushing it," he growled.

"Isn't that what life's about? Pushing it?" she shot back.

"Not when your life's the one that's about to go overboard," he growled, releasing her face.

"Now… Hermione, Hermione, Hermione…. Like I said before. This is all your fault. For not telling Ron. For not telling Harry. For not telling _me_. You shouldn't have done what you did…"

"I did the right thing."

"NO! You did the wrong thing, you filthy whore! You chose the wrong thing and now… you're going to pay."

"Go to hell!" Hermione screamed.

Ian smiled. "You first."

He flicked his wand at her and suddenly every wound opened up. Ian disappeared and mirrors appeared around her, showing her every angle over her body. Blood spluttered out from every pierced gash and pored down her legs as she screamed. She closed her eyes, trying not to see. Trying to remove the images but that's when it happened. Every mirror exploded and shards upon shards of glass shot towards her and embedded themselves into her skin, conveniently missing her vital organs and veins and putting her under the most excruciating pain imaginable. She twisted around, pulling at the bonds that kept her hanging from the ceiling but they too tightened and ropes shot up from the ground grabbing her legs and pulling them down in one swift movement.

Her broken leg was pulled apart and the bone separated instantly and one part went out of the skin, dripping in blood. Her screams echoed in the small factory and her blood splattered all over the floor.

* * *

"How was it?"

Hermione opened her eyes, glaring up at him as crouched down beside her, observing her with lustful eyes as his hands gently went over her body.

"I remember when you broke me, Hermione. Do you remember that?"

She remained silent.

His hands stopped over her leg and took hold of the bone that was jutting out.

"AHHHHH!!!"

Tears mixed with blood as she tried to pull away, only adding to the pain. Rolling over, she grabbed his leg, pleading with him to let go. He just glared at her.

"Remember! I want you to remember the pain I went through!"

"STOP IT! PLEASE!" she screamed, pulling her arms over her head as he continued to twist.

"REMEMBER!" He ordered.

* * *

"_When do they come back, Remus?" she asked again._

_Remus sighed and looked across the room. "They're alive. He's alive," he said. "Be thankful for that."_

"_Why can't I just send him a letter?" she asked._

"_Because we don't know if it could be traced or not. Look, Hermione. Everyone's going through a hard time right now, you especially. With Ron and Harry gone, you don't have much here to hold on to, but you have to believe Moody and I when we tell you that they're safe," he whispered. _

_Hermione bit her lip and nodded. Remus gave her a small hug before leaving and Hermione returned to her office. _

"_You ok?"_

_Hermione started and clutched her chest, whirling around and gasping. "Ian! Ian, don't do that, you scared me," she scolded, trying to steady her breathing. _

_The man smiled and moved away from the wall. _

"_Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you," he whispered. _

_Hermione smiled and sighed. "It's ok. I've just been on the edge lately with all this news coming out about all these Death Eater attacks. I'm just scared Harry and Ron might be…" She stopped and bit her lip. "I'm sorry. I'm just ranting on. Did you need something?" she asked as she turned to her desk and started shifting through papers._

_Ian shook his head, watching her with his dark brown eyes. "No. Not really."_

_Hermione looked up and caught him staring at her. She tilted her head to the side. "You sure?"_

_He nodded._

_Hermione nodded as well and then picked up a file and made her way to pass him. She stopped at him and gave him a small peck on the cheek. "Thanks for stopping by," she said before moving to the door. _

_Ian grabbed her arm and twirled her around, pressing his lips to hers heatedly. Hermione gasped, her whole body tensing in alarm at this very uncomfortable situation. He continued to hold her until she broke away and stumbled back, off balanced. She stared at him for a moment before her mind and her mouth started working together again._

"_What... Ian…. We've talked about this… I don't like you that way…" she whispered, touching her slightly bruised lips. That's when she got slightly mad. "Ron and I are together and just because he's gone, that doesn't mean I'm available. Now, I hope this is the last time we have to go through this. I like you as a friend and if you insist on doing this, I'm just going to have to tell someone, ok? Now if you'll excuse me, I'm late for a meeting," she snapped before turning on her heel and going for the door._

_At first Ian just stood there, then his eyes grew darker and he moved to her, grabbing her and pulling her to him._

"_Now, you see. This is that moment where you're faced with a simple choice. Throughout history, man has been forced to choose the lesser of two evils. Now it's either Ron or me. I suggest you pick wisely," he growled into her ear._

_Hermione's eyes grew wide as she started to wiggle around._

"_Let me go, now. Ian, let me go!" she screamed._

"_Decide, Hermione!"_

_Hermione brought her foot down on to his shoe and then bit his arm, causing him to release her instantly. She whipped out her wand and pointed it at her. _

"_You're an ass and I suggest you never do that again," she hissed before moving to the door. Right before she exited, she turned around and glared at him. "Oh and by the way. I've chosen Ron."_

_The door slammed and Ian looked up. _

"_Wrong answer!"

* * *

_

"You remember, don't you," Ian whispered into her ear.

"You're a bastard," she growled as she lay on the floor.

"You've picked up nasty language from Weasley, haven't you? What does that man have to offer anyway? He's loud. Obnoxious. An idiot. Insensitive. And all he wants from you is sex," he growled into her ear.

"You're wrong," she whispered.

Ian smiled.

"Well then. I'm just going to have to prove you wrong," he whispered before getting up and moving away.

Hermione watched him leave before closing her eyes in pain.

_**Hello, Hermione. I'm back**_

Hermione opened her eyes and felt the chill run down her spine. Suddenly it appeared, coming out of the walls and coming to the ground. Only this time, it was in the shape of something horrible. Something with a long hooked tail that whipped out and snagged Hermione by the arm.

Her screams filled the hall as her blood stained the floor as the thing plunged its tail in and out of her back. Blood gushed from every wound and covered her as the thing turned her over and the needle point teeth appeared, gnashing at her skin and torturing her mind with the sounds of breaking bone.

The thing pulled away for a moment and Hermione started for the door, dragging herself to it but to no avail. The tail sank into her broken leg and twisted.

"AHHHH!"

Hermione kicked out with her other leg with was snagged and nasty little winged things began to chew on it and before her very eyes she watched the flesh disappear, leaving blood and muscle. Pulsing muscle that contracted and twitched as the creature went further up her leg.

"LET ME GO!" Hermione screamed before tugging at her leg. The creatures then dove for her head, ripping at her ears and hair and feasting upon her neck as the world grew darker.

* * *

"How was your sleep? Refreshing I hope. I enjoyed watching those little rascals nip at your neck. It was such a turn on."

Hermione opened her eyes and once again she was hanging from the wall.

"What are you trying to prove? That you can torture someone?" she asked.

Ian smiled and went over to her. "No… No, Hermione. I'm trying to teach you what happens when you choose the worse of two evils… Ron…"

"Ron's not evil. You are," she shot back.

Ian smiled. "Am I? I'm not the one who killed countless men," he replied.

"Ron had a job to do," Hermione growled.

"And so did I, yet I'm the one who was punished. I never hurt you, Hermione. I've never made you cry. But Ron… How many sleepless nights have you spent torturing yourself over that redheaded freak show? How many times has he ripped your heart out and danced on it without mercy, Hermione?"

Hermione spit in his face.

Ian wiped it off and then looked up at her through haunting eyes. Now you see, Hermione. That… wasn't nice." He spit on her and smiled. "An eye for an eye, Hermione. I'm here to make you feel all the hurt I've felt for the past years ever since you walked out that door. I'm going to make _you_ pay and by doing so… I'm going to make _him_ pay," he whispered before taking out a knife and placing it over her neck.

Hermione glared at him. "What are you going to do? Kill me?"

"No… But once I'm done with you, I will… and you'll welcome it with open arms," he whispered.

"I doubt it," she whispered.

Ian smiled. "Oh, trust me. You will." He circled her, caressing every curve and dip of her bleeding, bruised body. "You will die here and this place will be the graveyard for your rotting corpse."

* * *

Lying her on the floor, Ian took out four large nails and a hammer. Hermione watched him, tears falling as he took each nail and placed it beside her arms and legs before waving his wand at her and binding her down. Crouching down beside her, he ran his hands down her neck and stopped at her breast.

"Oh, Hermione… all of this could have been stopped if you had just stopped seeing him."

"Bite me," Hermione snapped before spitting in his face again.

Ian took the hammer and swung it at her face, breaking her jaw. Hermione started making gurgling sounds as the side of her head bled. Tears were mixing with blood as they pooled below her head as she continued to make noises. Ian smiled and leaned down, kissing her face as she cried. He then reached up and took her jaw and squeezed. Hermione started making louder sobbing noises as he kissed her lips before dropping her head.

"Don't worry. I'll be gentle," he whispered. "And just so you know, I'll let you watch."

Hermione's eyes grew wide in horror as he turned her head. She struggled to turn it the other way but once he grabbed hold of her jaw, she let him do what he wanted. She watched as he took the first nail and placed it over the palm of her hand. Raising his hammer, he looked at her.

"I'm sorry," he whispered before bringing it down.

More sobs escaped Hermione's throat as blood poured from the hand. Ian moved her head again so that she could see her other hand get nailed. He then nailed both of her legs to the ground. Her sobbing echoed all over the factory and Ian was getting fed up with it. He got up and went out of her sight before coming back with a link of chains.

"SHUT UP!" he screamed, bringing the chains down over her stomach. Hermione screeched in pain as huge gashes appeared as he brought it down again.

"I said shut up!" he yelled.

"Stop it!"

Hermione continued to sob as she watched Ian turn to see an old man watching them. The man came over and looked down at her with a uncaring eye.

"You keep doing that, you'll kill her," he growled.

"I've been doing lots of things that could kill her, she's not about to die yet," Ian growled back.

The old man looked down at Hermione again and held out his hand. "Give me the hammer."

Hermione's eyes grew big and her chest started to heave again and she continued to wriggle around. The old man smiled down at her and brought the hammer down on her two shoulders, shattering them instantly. Hermione wanted to die just then. She wanted to die and she didn't care how.

* * *

Waking up, Hermione felt something moving around on her legs. Opening her eyes, she looked around and screamed. Her legs were covered in rats. She began picking them up and flinging them across the room then started dragging her self across the room. The thing was, her hands were still wounded from the nails and were leaving more fresh blood all over the floor.

"The rats are the least of your problems," Ian said as he circled her.

Hermione continued to move, occasionally stopping to kick the rats off her bleeding legs. Ian stopped and brought his foot down on her broken leg. Hermione screamed and twisted around, grabbing his leg and pulling him. Losing his balance he fell. Hermione dove onto him, biting and scratching with all of her might. Ian threw her off and she hit the railing to the second floor, which broke under her weight. Hermione screamed as she grabbed onto the railing as it dangled from the second floor. Ian appeared at the edge and smiled.

"You were always a tough pain in the ass," he muttered as he took out his wand and flicked it at her.

Hermione screamed in pain and fell, crashing into some crates.

Ian smiled and walked down the steps as Hermione withered around in the debris, splinters penetrating her back and a large wooden plank protruding from her shoulder. She should be dead. She _wanted_ to be dead. Hearing the sound of his footsteps, she rallied the last of her strength and tried to crawl out of the mess of crates. She didn't have to. Ian dragged her out and threw her to the floor. Placing a foot on her broken ribs, he yanked out the plank of wood and tossed it to the side. He leaned over to look at her face when she whipped out her hand and drove a large piece of wood right into his eye. Blood gushed everywhere and Hermione began to drag her body to the main entrance. She had lost all feeling in her legs and assumed that the fall had caused that. Not matter. She was going to die any way. She looked back to see Ian pulling the wooden piece out of her eye and the smear of blood that trailed behind her. Ignoring the excruciating pain that pulsed through her entire upper body, she continued to try to make her way to the entrance.

Ian stumbled over to her with his small knife and stabbed her leg. Hermione just continued to move. Ian ignored the pain in his eye and reached for a large metal object and brought it down to her back. Hermione gasped and collapsed, her breathing haggard and her body struggling to stay alive. In the corner of her eye she could see the old man watching them from a chair.

"What do you want?" she asked rudely.

Ian hit her in the head with the back of his knife. The old man smiled.

"Why, Hermione? You don't recognise me. Well, it has been a long time. Even Constantine Raden grows older," the man said distastefully.

Hermione's eyes opened in horror, the stories they told of the little girls. The poor little girls that didn't have a chance. This was her end...

Ian smiled. "I told you, you'd die here."

Hermione closed her eyes and shook her head. Ian smile broadened.

"No? You think you'll actually survive after this? There have been ten search parties through this place Hermione. Not one has found a clue of you being here. You're going to die here… And I'll be right here to watch…"

* * *

"Ron, why are we here again? I've told you. We're searched this place at least twenty times. She's not here," Harry said, sighing as he watched Ron look around the entrance to the place.

"Where else could she be?" he asked.

"Anywhere, Ron!" Ginny yelled. "She could be anywhere and your not doing her any good by checking a place we've already looked!"

Ron rounded on her, glaring at her. "Don't you dare start with me, Ginny."

"What? Ever since Hermione's been gone, you've been such an ass! Why don't you actually do some work instead of following the ideas of crazy people!"

"That lady was right!"

"That doesn't mean she's here!" Ginny screamed.

Ron was about to say something when they all heard a crash. They all went quiet and Harry went to the window and gasped.

"Oh no…"

**A/N: This was a _very_ interesting chapter.**

**mione-ron-4ever:** If that's the only word that comes to mind for that chapther, I'd hate to see what you have to say about this one.

**MrsDiggs:** Yes, well, I'm supposed to be doing homework. ;-)

**paulalou:** Well, this chapter isn't as psychological but it is violent.

**GTKari-123:** This is addictive. At least it's not drugs!

**LitaFanForLife:** Thank you!

**Idunn:** Yes, this thing actually exist in real life folktales. My mum told me about it and I decided that it would be cool to use in a story. If you remind me later, I'll tell you the name, but I wont tell you now or ever in the story actually... I'll probably just leave that one as a mystery.

**sballLuvr5:** I think a lot of this story is confusing until I start explaining certian things.

**NairobiDawn:** Not really. Just bad memories for Ian and Hermione

**LunaSky:** Hope I answered your question.

**Wesker888:** Well, I don't know. Living in Sin was a creature violence thing. This is different, so maybe that was a bad comparison. Maybe worse than Falling to Pieces when Oliver tortures Hermione. Though that chapter _was_ pretty graphic. Maybe it can be a tie? You can judge.

**cheeky splash:** Well, thank you! For that chapter I really wanted to create an atmosphre of tension and slight confusion.

**Chapter Tease: "ARE YOU KIDDING?" I'm not doing a chapter tease! I just spoiled all of you rotten! ROTTEN! NINE WHOLE PAGES ON WORD! **

**I feel better now.**

**Enjoy!**


	12. Wretched Prize

**A/N: There is still some violence going on in this part of the story.**

**All the old knives That have rusted in my back, I drive in yours. - Phaedrus (Thrace of Macedonia) **

"What? Harry, what is it?" Ginny asked.

Instead of answering, he took out his wand and started for the entrance of the factory building. Ron took out his own wand and followed, not bothering to ask questions. Helton and Ginny followed close behind.

* * *

Hermione knew she was going to die. Her fingers had been broken and most of her fingernails had been pulled off. Tears streamed down her face as she struggled to cry, her lungs burning from the curses Raden used on her. Ian was currently cutting off her hair with his bloodied knife while Raden watched from his chair. His damaged eye was covered by a bloody patch.

"This could have been avoided, Hermione," Ian ranted as he placed lumps of hair in front of her. "You could have chosen to love me and this could have all been avoided."

Raden smiled as he watched her cry, cradling her wounded hands to her chest as she lay on her side. She was so small. So insignificant. So desirable…

"Ian, I think this little Mudblood owes you one joy ride before she goes," he offered.

Ian smiled, looking down at Hermione's wide eyes through one wild lustful eye. "That would be wonderful," he growled.

Before Hermione could let out a sob and Ian could start anything, there was a large explosion from the front door. Raden stood up with Ian and waited until the smoke cleared. Raden smiled.

"Weasley. Potter. What a surprise! Come to join the party?"

The moment Ron saw Hermione, his heart constricted painfully and all the loathing he felt for the old man and the man standing over Hermione grew to such an extent, it consumed him and he started firing off the worse possible curses he could imagine.

The next moment the factory was filled with smoke and debris. Hermione was left in the middle while everyone ducked for safety behind machines and crates. Everyone except Raden and Ron. They continued to fire at each other. Raden was not about to lose this valuable prize that was lying wretchedly on the floor. Ginny wasn't surprised to see Aurors come through the entrance door. Harry had said that the place was being watched. What did surprise her was what backed Raden. Thousands of tiny winged monstrosities rose up from the second level and poured over the rusted wailings like a murderous tidal wave of gnashing teeth and blood-thirsty lustfulness. In simple terms, these minuscule atrocities were pixies that had spent a long time in the evil darkness with nothing to eat but the blood of their own and the expectation of precious flesh that so freely ran into their ungodly domain.

Not everyone was able to avoid the things, however and one unfortunate woman could be seen carried up. To everyone's horror the creatures ripped at her right there and then, spilling her blood for all to see. Ginny screamed and ducked behind an exhausted looking machine, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. Looking over to her left, she could see Helton and a few men fighting off the swarm. When she looked to her right, she noticed Harry was watching her. She gave him a strange look then he shook his head, pointing to the middle of the floor where Hermione was.

She was gone.

Ginny's eyes widened and she looked around then she pointed. "Over there!" she screamed.

Hermione was being dragged back by Ian towards the stairs were the mass of beasties were congregating before expanding off towards the Aurors in violent regiments. Hermione was crying, but other than that, she wasn't putting up a fight. Harry stood and started firing off spells as Ginny sprinted off towards where Hermione was being pulled to. She didn't get far…

* * *

"Don't worry, Hermione. I won't let them hurt you," Ian muttered as he continued to drag her towards the stairs. Hermione let out a sob and tried to reach behind her, but the pain in her broken fingers was too great and she let him continue, her blood smearing the ground as they went.

But before they could reach the stairwell, someone shot something off and the old metal beams groaned and broke and the stairs collapsed. This benefited Hermione immensely seeing as Ian was hit in the head by one of the flying pieces of metal and released her. When she realized her feet had hit the ground, she began to use her elbows to crawl towards the entrance.

This would not be her grave…

* * *

"There's too many of them!" Harry shouted to Helton, moving back as the creatures continued to surge forward in their quest for fresh blood.

Helton nodded in agreement, killing a few before backing up as well. "We can't keep this up! They just keep coming!"

There was a scream and Ginny could be seen being lifted off the ground by several crazed beasties. She struggled to be released but one of them took her wand and began whirling it around before tossing it into the air. Another one screeched something awful and the wand exploded, but not before releasing a few curses that hit several beasties as well as one unfortunate Auror. The explosion also caused many of the crates in the building to catch flame.

"Ginny!" Helton screamed, aiming his wand at the creatures.

Harry reached out and stopped him, shaking his head. "No! You could hit her," he snapped, watching as Ginny continued to struggle.

There was a painful scream then Ginny fell, landing on the same crates Hermione had.

"GINNY!" Harry and Helton screamed at the same time, sprinting over.

They were stopped by a horde of the winged things, screeching at them and bearing their awful needle-like teeth. There was an explosion from one of the crates and suddenly the horde of tiny frenzied fiends scattered, their screeching getting louder as the flames grew. One Auror grabbed Harry's arm.

"We have to get out of here now before this whole place explodes!" he told him.

Harry nodded and glanced over at where Ron was supposed to be. The two battling wizards were in the far corner, oblivious to the furnace around them. Harry was torn.

Go and see if Ginny was still alive or warn his best friend that the walls around him would soon collapse if he did not stop.

Taking a deep breath, Harry ran off towards Ron, his wand destroying any little creature that got in his way. Four of them, however, managed to maneuver around his curses and grabbed him by the ear and hair, pulling and biting furiously. Screaming, he clawed at them, firing spells to get them off as they continued to clench at his ear. Grabbing one, he threw it off of him and blasted it into smithereens. This only made the others more blood thirsty. About ten swarmed around what was left of the bloody unfortunate while others attacked Harry's bleeding head.

There was a shriek and Harry turned to see an Auror be thrown out the second story window, a mob of excited, lusting parasites. Harry cursed another before making his way towards Ron again, his head aching as the things continued relentlessly to tear at him.

"Ron! Ron!" he called.

Ron wasn't listening. Raden was.

The old man smiled.

"The place is going down, Weasley! You'll _never_ win!" he yelled.

"_Avada Kerdava_!" Ron screamed.

Raden dodged the murderous assault and shot off a spell of his own.

"Face it Weasley! You've wasted your life on that whore! You should know by now that mudbloods are bad luck!"

"SHUT UP! _CRUCIO!_"

"_REDUCTO!_"

The two spells met and exploded, blowing both men back into the wall. Harry scrambled over to Ron and kneeled down beside him.

"Ron, we have to get out of here," he told the man.

Ron shook his head. "I'm going to kill that bastard," he growled, getting up and moving towards Raden.

Harry grabbed Ron's arm violently and pointed to where Ginny had fallen. "Hermione's missing and Ginny could be dead, Ron!" he shouted.

Suddenly the enormity of the situation hit Harry at full force and a wave of helplessness fell upon him. Tears fell down his face as he continued to point.

"Killing Raden won't help them! Killing him won't help Hermione!"

Ron seemed to be hit with the save force that had over taken Harry, except it didn't have the same exact effect. Ron turned back to see that Raden was gone. He then nodded.

"Come on!"

The two made their way back to the entrance where others were waiting for them. They helped to shut the door and then backed up just in time to hear more explosions. Harry then looked around to see Helton holding Ginny as she lay on the ground. A woman was kneeling down beside the two, checking Ginny. Harry ran over and fell to his knees, taking her hand.

"Is she ok?" he asked frantically.

The woman nodded. "She'll be fine. She didn't fall that far, so the damage isn't that bad. She's just going to have a really bad headache when she wakes up," the lady explained.

"Where's Hermione?" Ron demanded.

"There you are!"

They all turned to see Moody coming down the small wooded pathway, followed by Ron's parents as well as several ministry officials.

"What's going on here?" Moody demanded.

"Hermione's missing. She was in there, but now she's missing."

"Over here!" an Auror called.

Everyone hurried over to him. The man pointed to blood that was on the dirt. There were marks on the ground which seemed to look like someone had been dragged. The trail led into the woods and unfortunately it was starting to rain. Ron started off for the woods.

"We have to hurry or the trail will disappear!"

* * *

"Well, Hermione… this is it… It's time for you to die," Ian whispered into her ear.

Hermione shuddered, tears running down her face as she watched him take out three more knives. Ian took her and rolled her over on her back and spread out her hands and legs. Hermione screamed pathetically as he drove the knives into her hands. She couldn't feel her feet…

Ian looked up to the sky and smiled. "Lucky you… You're going to die alone… no one will find you in the rain," he told her.

Hermione continued to sob. Ian straddled her and leaned down, kissing her face as she tried to avoid him. Ian's hands roved over her body as he leaned into her ear.

"Such a waste of something so beautiful…"

Ian stood up and took out his wand, smiling as the rain poured down harder. He pointed it down at her, loving the way her eyes got wide with utter terror.

"Goodbye, Hermione…"

* * *

Harry stopped for a moment, holding up his hand for silence. 

"Did you hear that?" he asked.

Another Auror nodded. "It sounded like… sobbing," he finished, pointing in the direction before taking off. Ron followed close behind until he could hear it himself. Then he charged forward, trying to find her. He then stopped, looking around. Harry caught up and he looked around.

"Where is she?"

They were looking around when a flash of green light lit up the area then the sobbing stopped. Ron's heart dropped and his whole body froze.

"No… NO!" He took off to where the light had come from, Harry screaming for him to be careful.

Ron crashed through several bushes until he reached a large tree. Ron looked around frantically then finally spotted something that made him freeze. It was Fred and George. They were coming out of the bushes with their wands at the ready and running over to where Hermione was. Ian's body draped over her. They all rushed over to them and fell to their knees. Ron and George shoved Ian's body off of her and suddenly the woods were filled with the sound of Hermione's sobbing again.

"Oh my God," Fred gasped, horrified by her wounds and pointing to the knives in her hands and feet.

George reached over to pull one out when she started screaming, shaking her head frantically, her eyes wide in fear. Ron leaned in and took her face.

"It's ok, it's going to be ok," he whispered to her gently as she cried. Ron looked up and nodded to the twins and they began to take out the knives, trying to ignore her screams. The moment they were out, Ron grabbed her and pulled her to him, his tears finally spilling down his face.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered to her as she sobbed. "You're safe now…"

**A/N: What a long and agonizing journey... and who knows? Maybe it isn't over yet?**

**HerFathersJoy:** Thank you so much!

**h256:** Who knows?

**katrin4p:** I like to create an atmosphere. Pleasant atmospheres are easy to make. It's the dark, psychological ones that test your guts and show the inner thoughts of a person. I love to bring out the best of people by bringing out the fear in them. You really see what Hermione's made of when she's scared.

**ChainGang-Unit94:** Thank you. Hope you enjoy this.

**Mione-Girl.x:** I'll try, but I must tell you, this is really hard.

**Idunn:** Yeah, well, when I started writing that chapter I really didn't expect to get as detailed as I did. In my mind I just kept thinking of how it would really look if it _did_ happen and my mind brought up what you read. I wanted it to be cold yet somehow enticing at the same time. I know some people weren't able to read the whole thing but I wanted to show everyone how cold I could make someone be and yet... I don't know... my feelings about that chapter are somewhat mixed. I wrote it, but I _really_ don't like reading it.

**LunaSky:** Don't worry! The nightmares will go away soon... hopefully...

**bubblelicious749:** I have a crush on him too... and Rupert! They're both sexy! I tried to do a little more of Ron but drama/fighting scenes are not my strong point so I tried to leave that whole thing to your imagination.

**Hermione-and-Ron-forever-together: **Yeah... he definitely saw Hermione!

**Wesker888:** What are you talking about! I was all about the fluff, with Ian expressing his hurt and his feelings about Hermione! That was all fluff!

;-)

**charma10:** :-o

**polymath:** Don't die! I've updated so you won't die! I **_LOVE_** cliffhangers! They're my best friend! Sometimes we go out and have coffee together are go and watch a movie. But mostly they sit next to me while I write and tell me when to stop. :-)

**Coconut Girl:** It's ok. You didn't miss much. I haven't read it over since I uploaded it so I don't know what vital information I did put on there. Hope things are going well with you and hope you update soon with the Darker side!

**ronandmion4ever:** Well, Ian wasn't about to let her die so he _did_ heal some of her wounds after she passed out each time. He was trying to be nice. :-)

**cellogirl:** Just because Ron's found Hermione that doesn't mean I'm done yet... or does it?

**MrsDiggs:** I try not to write too many horror/dark fics though most of my stories are. The whole goriness/greusome thing is something I don't do often and try to do only once in each story with as little vital information as possible becasue I know some people can't handle certain things I've written, eg (graphic violence, rape)

**lemonwedges4:** Glad you liked it so much!

**Lisha:** You're not the only one who found this hard to read. I found it hard to read as well which is why I haven't read it since I uploaded it onto fanfiction.

**sballLuvr5:** Don't worry about Ian. Unfortunately Ron wasn't the one who got to kill him. Well, there's still Raden... if _he's_ still alive... or did everyone forget about Raden?

**NairobiDawn:** Thank you. I can't wait to see what happens next either.

**mione-ron-4ever:** I won't. I rarely ever do, though seeing as it's almost summer, my updates are probably not going to come around as often. Exams!

**cheeky splash:** Like I told ronandmion4ever, Ian healed her after every break. I don't think tortured her as much as I did in Never Say Die. That was the ultimate torture which I will probably never do again.

**A/N: I cannot believe how many people reviewed for that chapter! Either you guys watch too many horror movies or you just decided that now would be the perfect time to say something about my writing skills or lack thereof. No worries!**

**Chapter Tease:**

**I have nothing... **

**I haven't written anything yet, so I guess you'll just have to wait...**

**Sorry!**


	13. Aftermath

**Disclaimer: Things are never going to be the same. -ME!**

Things were quiet in St. Mungos as the Weasley's waited for news of how Hermione was. She had been brought in shortly after they had found her and rushed into the emergency room when she had started to convulse violently, throwing up all over the place. The only news that came out of the emergency room was that she might not make it. Ron, despite Mrs. Weasley's pleadings, had refused to change his cloths, which were still crusted with Hermione's blood. Ron just sat there, staring at the ground, his hands clasped together as he just waited. Harry and Ginny stood near by, holding each other as they conversed quietly.

"Mr. Weasley."

They all looked up and Ron stood, walking over to the Healer. "Is she ok?" he asked quietly.

The man glanced over at the rest of the family then up at Ron. "Maybe we should talk in private?" he suggested.

In that moment, everyone felt a cold chill make its way down their spines. Ron glanced back at them then at the Healer. "What happened?"

The man sighed and repeated himself. "We _should_ talk in private," he stressed.

Ron nodded and glanced over at Harry, motioning him to follow. Harry gave Ginny a kiss on the brow and then followed Ron to the Healer's office. The man shook both men's hands.

"Hello, I'm Senior Healer Davidson. Let me start out be saying that Hermione has been stabilized."

"What happened to Hermione?" Ron asked shakily.

Davidson closed his eyes and rubbed them. "I'm not exactly sure you _want_ to know what happened."

"What happened?" Ron asked through clenched teeth.

Davidson looked over at Ron and sighed. "Hermione was… well, to put it in the simplest terms… she was maimed." Harry and Ron straightened immensely at this. "It seems that whoever did this to her tortured her in several different ways then would heal many of her more fatal wounds, making sure she would remain in pain, but wouldn't die. She then suffered from severe creature injuries that were, obviously, from those Devipixies. Hermione was also paralyzed from the waist down. Most likely sustained from a fall," he said. Looking at each mans' face, he pursed his lips. "Look, Mr. Weasley... Ron? Look, Ron, Hermione's going to survive. She will undergo several treatments that will help with the different types of wounds then an advanced treatment for the paralysis. She will then be put in rehab for her legs and strength."

"Is that it?" Harry asked.

Davidson shook his head. "This is what I needed to talk to you about in private. Though she will get over the physical injuries, I will caution you on her mental state. Hermione has been through every sort of torture imaginable and it would be a miracle if she came out with no real signs of what happened. That being said, I must prepare you for the worst."

"What's the worst?" Ron demanded.

Davidson sighed. "Honestly, it would take a miracle for Hermione not to come out the way the Longbottoms did."

The moment he said that, Ron couldn't breathe. He felt as if someone was crushing his chest and he couldn't do a thing about it. Neville's parents still didn't recognize him. If Hermione could recognize him…

"Is there a…" Harry's voice failed him for a moment and he took a minute to pull himself together before trying again. "Is there a possibility that she'll come out ok?"

Davidson could tell how much this was killing the two men, but he knew he couldn't lie about it. He shook his head sadly. "Hermione will come out with some psychological problems, but how bad they might be is a mystery until she wakes up and we are able to assess her," he answered.

Harry nodded, his eyes on his tortured best friend. They were supposed to get married. If something happened to Hermione…

"Mr. Weasley… Mr. Weasley?" the nurse called.

Ginny looked over at Ron, who was in the corner, staring at the ground dumbly. He hadn't said a thing since he and Harry had appeared again with Healer Davidson. Harry had told them about the ordeal with Hermione and then it all made sense. She was worried about him, as was everyone else. He hadn't left the waiting room for two days, sitting in that same position. He had refused food and only took the water after Mrs. Weasley had reminded him that they were all worried about Hermione. They had all begged for him to at least change his clothes, which was still stained with Hermione's blood and he finally did, but had refused to have them burned, holding them in his hands as he waited. Fleur nudged Ron, jumping back when he jerked away.

"Mr. Ronald Weasley?" the nurse tried again.

Ron looked up. "That's me."

The nurse offered a smile. "Hermione's awake right now, but Healer Davidson is only allowing her one visitor at a time. The rest of you will have to wait," she said, eyeing the children in particular.

Ron got up, dropping his clothes on the seat and started to follow the nurse when he faltered and stopped. They all knew why. If Hermione didn't remember him it would be Ron's undoing. Mrs. Weasley got up and went to her son and pulled him into a tight hug.

"You'll be ok," she whispered before pushing him towards the nurse.

Ron followed the nurse down the hall and into the private room Hermione was being held in.

"Now, she's still weak, so I don't want her exerting herself to much. Some of her bones are still mending, so don't you dare try anything," she warned him before letting him in.

It was quiet when he entered. At first all he saw were the shaded windows then his eyes moved over to the bed. That's when his heart stopped.

She was just lying there with her eyes closed. There were bandages all over her arms and one or two on her head. Her hair was splayed on the white pillow and her chest was moving slowly, letting him know that she was really alive. She looked small and vulnerable in the bed as she lay there.

Ron felt the overwhelming desire to touch her. It felt as if it had been ages since he had held her in his arms and he felt that if he didn't touch her soon she'd disappear in front of him.

He slowly went over to her and then stood there, not knowing whether or not he _wanted_ to touch just then. Though she wasn't smiling, she looked peaceful. She didn't look afraid…

Before he knew it, he felt tears running down his cheeks and he turned away to brush at them.

"Ron… Ron, is that you?"

He turned to her in astonishment and then a huge grin appeared on his face upon seeing her sleepy brown eyes looking up at him in confusion. He leaned in and kissed her brow tenderly.

"Hey… how are you?" he asked softly.

She just stared at him for a moment before she tried to prop herself up. Ron stopped her.

"No! No, you're not straining yourself. You're still recovering and I don't want you to hurt yourself," he scolded before he started moving around, moving the bed so that she was in a comfortable sitting position and then fiddling around with her pillows.

"Ron… Ron, stop it, I'm fine," she told him, her voice small.

That's when she saw his shoulders crumple as he turned to her. She could see the exhaustion. The suffering. Every single emotion he had felt during her time in the hospital was displayed in his eyes and it broke her. He went over to her and sat down on the side of his bed. She took his face in her hands and her chest constricted painfully to see that he had been crying.

"I thought… They told me you might not make it," he whispered.

Hermione shook her head and he pulled her to him, burying his face in her neck and holding her so tight that it hurt. But that didn't matter. She was in his arms. She was safe.

She felt his whole body shaking and she pulled away to see his eyes filled with tears. She couldn't help but let out a weak laugh as she wiped the tears away.

"You're crying," she whispered hoarsely.

His shoulders shook as he struggled to control himself.

"I love you," he whispered.

Hermione's eyes welled with tears and she couldn't stop the sob that escaped her lips before falling into his arms again. Their lips met in heated force, both knowing that the nurse could come in at any minute and scold the both of them. But they didn't care. They had been denied each other for a long time and they deserved this.

Ron's lips moved away from hers and moved down her jaw and to her neck as his hands moved to her waist and up her body in trembling anticipation. Hermione could barely breathe as he moved closer, his lips searching her neck with new life. If she didn't have his lips on hers, she'd go mad. She reached up and lifted his head away from her neck and back to hers, allowing their mouths to find each other for the second time.

Hermione jerked away breathlessly when Ron's hands met her still mending ribs. She held his face close to hers, her need for his closeness vital at this point.

"I love you…"

**A/N: No! It's not over. I wouldn't spoil our fun by ending here. Besides... I've still got a little more to write. I am sooooo sorry it took so long, it's just, I had to versions for this chapter and the other one seemed a bit rushed so I chose to do this one. Hopefully, it doesn't seem rushed. **

**cellogirl:** I'm sorry I didn't update as soon as I know you would have hoped. I pray that this chappie makes up for that.

**polymath:** I hope you like it!

**ronandmion4ever:** Well, you know how I am about happy endings. Besides, I'm not done yet, so don't go wishing for the happy ending yet. I might have one or two more chapters left in me. Who knows?

**HerFathersJoy:** I'm glad you like it. Like I said before, I try not to do the gore thing, but sometimes it happens, though it doesn't happen a lot.

**GTKari-123:** Safe from who? Ian or me? ;-)

**sballLuvr5:** Don't worry, there's no more gross stuff. Maybe just a little psychological stuff.

**Memilyxoxo:** 4 words: Thank you for reviewing!

**NairobiDawn:** Well, right now, all we can be thankful for is that she's alive. You can all lay it on me when something else happens to her. :-)

**lemonwedges4:** Thank you.

**Coconut Girl:** Don't worry. It's over. I hope you're ok and could you _please_ update Darker! I'm going crazy:-)

**LitaFanForLife:** I hope this is good as well!

**charma10:** Wow, you're real positive! "How ever screwed up she is". You sound like me sometimes! (That's a good thing depending on how you look at it)

**cheeky splash:** O my goodness! I totally forgot about the wedding! Should I put it in here or should there be a wedding or should I just cut it out all together? I guess that all depends on how Hermione deals.

**mione-ron-4ever:** Wow... you, charma10 and me should go out and have coffee. I think I'm being a bad influence. You want me to torture someone and charma10 knows that Hermione's screwed. We're a happy bunch aren't we?

**Wesker888:** You know me. Though I think I've done my fill of twist. This twist will be a small one unless cheeky splash gave me an idea that will make this a big twist... :-) (that's an evil grin)

**LunaSky:** I love you. You make my day. I'm glad you liked it!

**Chapter Tease:**

**NO!**

**All you people keep reviewing I don't have the energy to write a chapter tease. I absolutely refuse! **

**Actually, I haven't written anything, so that's why. And I don't want to ruin it by making something up.**

**TTFN!**


	14. At a Loss

**A/N: I hope you like. **

"Mr. Weasley."

Five men looked up and Healer Davidson cleared his throat, remembering that he had to be more specific when it came to the Weasleys.

"Ron."

Ron stood up and walked over to the healer.

"What is it?"

"It's Hermione," Davidson told him as they walked down to his office. Ron stopped abruptly, staring at the healer with a deep frown.

"What do you mean? A week ago you said she could die and now she's awake. Now you're telling me something's wrong. What happened?" he demanded.

Davidson opened his office door and motioned for Ron to follow him. When Ron finally sat down, Davidson sighed and rested his hands on his desk.

"Hermione's been having trouble sleeping."

"Pain?"

Davidson shook his head. "Hallucinations," he corrected.

"Nightmares?"

Davidson sighed. "Depending on what time you get in to her room. She wakes up in the middle of the night screaming bloody murder and when we get into the room she swears Constantine Raden is still there, standing behind us with his wand. Now, I know you didn't have any success in apprehending Raden, but we've secured her room and no one was in there. We definitely know that she's having nightmares that then manifest themselves into hallucinations the moment she opens her eyes. At the moment we have no cause for these symptoms, but we are running test right now," he told Ron.

The red haired man closed his eyes and rested his head in his hands. "What does this mean?" he asked, his voice muffled through his hands.

The healer took in the man's appearance and his heart went out to Ron. He had been through so much. "It means that until we can find the source of the nightmares and hallucinations, Hermione will have to stay here."

"What if you don't find a source?" Ron asked, looking up at the healer with dull blue eyes.

Davidson looked down at his desk, not able to look into the eyes of the man before him.

"If Hermione's condition gets worse-"

"Worse? What do you mean if her condition gets _worse_? You mean she could die?!" Ron demanded instantly, rising from his seat.

Davidson held up his hands. "Ron, you need to know what might happen to her," he said. "Hermione will not die… but if her condition continues or gets worse-"

"How could it _possibly_ get worse?" Ron asked nervously.

"Hermione could start hurting herself again. Her mind would most likely also start losing all sense of reality as it is and then…"

"Then? Then what?"

Davidson closed his eyes and rubbed them. "Hermione would have to be admitted into the permanent ward," he said quietly, his words echoing off the walls of his office and suffocating the air out of Ron.

_The permanent ward_, he thought.

His eyes closed painfully and once again his head fell into his hands, his chest constricting so tightly he thought he'd die for sure.

"I'm sorry, Ron."

"When will you know? When will you know if she has to go into the permanent ward?" he asked.

"By the end of this week."

Ron looked up, his blue eyes clouding over with dread as the world around him violently crashed in flames. Everything he knew faded away and in that moment he realized that he couldn't do it any more. He couldn't pretend to be strong. He couldn't make it, because if worse came to worse, she wouldn't be there with him.

* * *

Hermione looked up to see Harry come in, his face completely ashen. A feeling of foreboding fell over her and she bit her lip.

"What is it?" she asked cautiously.

Harry sat down heavily in the chair near her bed and looked up at her.

"Why can't Ron see you?" he whispered.

Hermione closed her eyes. "Harry, you don't understand-"

"You might be going into the permanent ward," Harry cut in suddenly, his eyes meeting hers for the first time.

Hermione's heart twisted painfully and she broke his gaze. "I know," she whispered.

Harry stared at her in awe. "I know? I know? Ron's out there tearing his heart out because of this and all you can say is 'I know?!' Why can't he see you?!"

"What am I supposed to do, Harry!?" Hermione screamed back, sitting up straighter in the bed. "What am I supposed to say to him?! In a week's time I probably won't remember who he is!" she screamed.

"Ron loves you!"

Hermione burst into tears the instant he said that and for the first time he saw the effect of the hold this future had on her. She was a wreck.

She was having nightmares about dead people only to wake up to see them standing at her bedside, glaring at her murderously. She had gone through a torture he could never dream of and now…

She grabbed her head and moaned, clutching her head as she cried. "I'm losing my mind, Harry… I'm losing my mind and I _cannot_ let Ron see me like this," she told him. "I can't let him see me like this…"

"Hermione-"

"No," she muttered, trying to block out a whispering in the background.

Harry got up from his seat and took her hand.

"Hermione please… let him see you."

She shook her head, the whispering getting louder. "No…"

"He loves you-"

"NO!" Hermione shrieked, lashing forward and striking Harry across the face, glaring at him through loathing brown eyes. Harry stumbled back, clutching his face and Ginny, Mrs. Weasley, Fred and George came running in, having heard Hermione scream. When they caught sight of Harry, staring at Hermione with wide eyes, holding his face, they gasped and turned to Hermione.

She was now staring at Harry with dread in her eyes. She let out a moan and started crying again, shaking her head.

"That's why… That's why I can't see him," she whispered, grabbing her head to stop the whispering.

Ginny moved over to Harry and took his face gently in her hands and gaped. There was a long red line where Hermione's engagement ring had caught on Harry's skin. She looked over at the woman and bit her lip.

It was starting…

**A/N: I know it's short, but I really didn't want to put too much more in. I hope you enjoyed. I'll try to update Numb and Stand as well.**

**sarah-keyko:** Sometimes reading it straight through is better that reading it in chunks. Helps calms the nerves when you can go to the next chapter.

**HerFathersJoy:** You're not the only one, don't worry. For some reason, I end up staying up all night thinking of this stuff. I'm wierd.

**sballLuvr5:** She remembers, but she could end up like the Longbottoms...

**tefy:** I'm glad I was able to be one writer who persuaded you to read a R/Hr story. Which ship do you usually read?

**FallenAngelGirl:** Oh... wow! is that _really_ how many I have? I remember starting out with only two. Funny how time flies! I'm glad you're into my stories!

**GTKari-123:** You're right. She's not safe from me. I will make her suffer a little more... or will I:-)

**cellogirl:** Well, now you have a hazy idea of what _might_ happen to her and Ron, though nothing is ever certian with me... Being evil feels good.

**LunaSky:** :O I was watching a re-run of House yesterday (BEST SHOW EVER!!!!) and I love it when he watches General Hospital or something like that.

SPEAKING OF HOUSE!

Am I the only one who thinks Hugh Laurie/ Gregory House is HOT? Or am I alone in the world of House lovers?

Excuse me, I meant sexy. There's a difference you know!

**Memilyxoxo:** Thank you. I'm happy that you're enjoying this story.

**mione-ron-4ever:** You see, I'm so famous that my even my unpredictability is predictable. :-)

**Mione-Girl.x:** I cry a lot writing these stories, so don't worry about crying. If you don't cry, it's because I already have.

**cheeky splash:** Well, at the moment, there are still no signs of mentalness, besides the hallucinations, so I think Hermione's safe for now, though her temper could use a _little_ adjusting. I think you're right about Ron having a breakdown. I'm still considering a wedding scene, though it might not be what you think.

**NairobiDawn:** I liked that part too. The whole switching roles where Ron is now the one who needs comforting after all the time where Hermione was having a breakdown is actually quite cool.

**Coconut Girl:** THERE YOU ARE! Oh har har. I can make happy endings if I wanted to, I'm just to lazy to try. I personally think happy endings are harder to make than tragic or mutual endings. Speaking of endings, when are you going to finally _end_ this lapse of writing and finally _post_ a new chapter for the Dark Side story. I'M DYING! (you can tell I can't wait)

**Wesker888:** I'm waiting for your update as well, so don't think I've forgotten about you! (I'm having a great day, by the way) I hope you enjoy.

**LitaFanForLife:** Thank you!

**charma10:** Semi-happy endings are easier to do that happy endings, but still harder than tragic or mutual endings so I will have to see. Oh! Don't get your hopes up! I will consider!

**Well, while you're enjoying this, I am now currently updating my other two pending stories so when you're finished with this, drop on by my others.**


	15. Try

**A/N: I hope everyone is enjoying themselves. **

_Adversity introduces a man to himself._** --Unknown**

It had been two days and other than the screaming, Hermione's status had not changed much. She was still seeing people and her nightmares were becoming more real to her.

Ron had become a wreck.

He had gone back to the Ministry, consuming himself in his work and then finding himself in Hog's Head, numbing his mind and heart to the uncontrollable pain that pierced him with the amber liquid that burned his throat. He wanted to just forget everything and not be there. Hermione was still not letting him see her and after another argument with Harry, everyone had given up on pressuring her.

"Ron."

"Not now."

"Ron, please…"

"I said not now."

"Ron, I just want to talk-"

"Piss off," Ron growled, looking up from his desk and into the sad eyes of his sister.

"Ron, you can't keep pushing everyone away just because of what might happen. Hermione still has a chance," Ginny whispered, stepping into the office and sitting down in a chair.

"Go away, Ginny," Ron gritted through his clenched teeth. "I don't want to talk."

Ginny flared up, annoyed by his juvenile behavior. "No! You'd rather work all day and then drink yourself to death!"

"GET OUT!" Ron bellowed, standing up and slamming his fist down on the desk, scaring Ginny out of her seat and to the door. "JUST GET OUT!"

"Ron!" Ginny tried.

Ron grabbed a pictured off the wall and chucked it at her, nearly missing her head. "GET OUT NOW!"

* * *

Harry looked up when he saw Ginny appear from the backyard, throwing her soaking cloak on a chair.

"He's not talking is he?"

Ginny looked up at him in surprise and then bit her lip, shaking her head. "He's trying to deal with this in his own way, Harry. He's doing what he'd do if he really did lose her…"

Harry sighed. "It's not fair."

"What?"

Harry waved his hand in the air. "Ron and Hermione. They've worked so hard for what they had and now… they're going to lose each other."

Ginny nodded, moving over to the kettle. "People will never have the perfect relationship, Harry. I remember looking up to Hermione for help when Hanton and I had trouble…" she drifted off, her face going red.

Harry looked up, watching her intently. "How are you and Hanton?"

Ginny turned around, amazement in her eyes. "He's your boss, Harry."

Harry stood up. "Well you're my…"

Ginny frowned, moving over to him. "I'm your what?"

Harry hesitated and looked down at his feet. "My best friend's younger sister," he muttered.

Ginny shook her head, somehow wishing he had said something else.

"You're unbelievable," she muttered, pushing past him.

Harry turned to watch her go. "What do you want, Ginny? What do you want from me?"

She whirled around, her eyes blazing. "Try, Harry! I want you to try!" she shouted. She looked around for the words to say, her heart racing as she struggled to control her emotions. "I want you to… kiss me like you did that night by the fountain. I want you to hold me like you used to! I want you to tell me that you care and that you love me! I want you to do anything except what you're doing right now!"

Harry froze after hearing her speak. Ginny watched him try to handle what she had just said and could feel the tears coming to her eyes.

"You said it yourself, Harry. It's not fair… It's not fair that I have to be forced to live with your decision."

"Ginny-"

"Forget what I said six years ago! Damn it, Harry! Stop thinking rationally for once! Stop thinking about the risks! Forget the fact that you happen to be the most wanted man in the Death Eater world! Forget everything that's happening around us and make a choice!" she screamed, handing him her ultimatum. It was now or never. She couldn't keep waiting.

He stared at her for what seemed like forever and Ginny could feel her heart break again. She wiped her eyes and sniffed.

"Goodbye, Harry," she whispered before turning around.

Harry reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her to him and letting their lips meet heatedly. At first Ginny tensed up at the sudden action, but she then relaxed, sighing into his mouth and clinging to his shirt as they kissed. She found it hard to think as he deepened the kiss, his tongue prodding hers gently. She wanted to get lost in him again, but beneath the bursting passion, she was afraid that he might back out. She was afraid he might use the same stupid excuse he had used six years ago and leave her hanging there, helplessly broken and hopelessly lost.

When they pulled away to breathe, Harry held her face, kissing her face as he struggled to think through everything.

"What about Hanton?" he asked.

Ginny shook her head. "Forget Hanton… Forget everything, Harry," she whispered.

* * *

_Hermione sighed, breathing in the night air as they walked through a park near Hermione's flat. Ron held her hand as they strode closely, occasionally kissing her brow. _

"_Thanks for dinner, Ron," she whispered as they walked. "I was so busy today and I've been stressed all weekend. I really needed a break."_

_Ron smiled, looking down at her. "I'm glad you enjoyed yourself."_

_Hermione looked up at him. "But you do know you didn't have to take me to that restaurant. The Three Broomsticks would have been fine," she commented._

_Ron shrugged. "Well, I thought you could use something nice."_

_Hermione looked ahead, her heart fluttering at his thoughtfulness._

"_Thank you, Ron," she mumbled as they stopped under a tree. Ron twirled Hermione around before pushing her back into a the tree, one of his hands splayed on the bark while the other went around her waist. She smiled up at him._

"_My, my, where did you learn such moves?" she asked. _

_Ron leaned in and began kissing her neck as his hand rested on the small of her back. When he felt her shudder under his touch he couldn't help but pull away and grin._

"_Cold?"_

_She looked up at him through glazed eyes. "No…"_

_Their lips met, both taking their time to savor the moment as a gentle breeze came through the trees and caressed their skin. As they kissed, Hermione felt Ron slip something velvety in her hand. Frowning, she pulled away._

"_Ron, what is…" she drifted off when she saw the small black velvet box in her hand. Her heart stopped as she continued to stare at it, completely at a loss as to what to do._

_Ron watched her stare and reached up, touching her face and forcing her to look at him._

"_I love you, Hermione," he whispered._

_Hermione finally started breathing, her eyes watering as she looked back down at the box. _

"_Ron-"_

_He placed a finger on her lips, cutting her off before kneeling down before her. Hermione placed a hand on her mouth, her eyes going wide as Ron took her hand in his._

"_We've been through a lot, Hermione and I couldn't have made it without you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you," he told her._

_Suddenly tears started falling from her eyes and Ron smiled up at her._

"_Hermione Jane Granger… will you marry me?"_

_Hermione broke out sobbing, motioning him to stand before throwing her arms around his neck, burying her face in his shoulder; nodding. _

"_Yes! Yes!" she sobbed, holding him close. _

_Ron let out a whoop and swung her around, his heart soaring as she screamed to be let down. When he finally let her go, their lips met eagerly. He reached up and wiped her tears away as he kissed down her jaw and nipped at her soft skin, making her gasp. _

"_I love you, Ron," she cried into his shoulder as she held him._

_Ron felt his chest constrict when he pulled away. He had never seen anything more beautiful than the way she looked now, her hair ruffled and tears running down her smiling face. He reached up and tucked a curl behind her ear and was amazed at how her eyes fluttered shut under his touch._

"_Open the box," he whispered and her eyes popped back open._

_She took a deep breath and looked down at the small box. _

"_Oh Ron!" she gasped when she opened it, taking the ring out of the box and holding it up to the light for a better look. It was a simply cut diamond with a platinum gold band which shimmered in the moonlight. _

"_It was my grandmother's," he whispered, watching her slide it on her finger slowly. _

_Her eyes widened and she looked up at him._

"_Really?"_

_He nodded and she grinned, leaning up and kissing him fully._

"_I love you, Ron."_

**A/N: I thought this was appropriate.**

**Idunn:** I know what you're saying but the thing is, they knew they've got the main guy dead and the other one missing and not likely to appear anytime soon. They also know why she's having these nightmares, so there's actually nothing to look for anymore. Good analysis or whatever you call it. Great job!

**Lisha:** I won't make her suffer, but I might make Ron suffer. (wink, wink)

**tefy:** I know what you mean. Thank you.

**mione-ron-4ever:** You never know. Being married might make it worse if Hermione does lose her mind completely.

**Coconut Girl:** Fatalistic isn't always bad... Well, maybe it is, but it makes for a _great_ story! I'm still so excited for you!

**sballLuvr5:** Well... anything can happen.

**LitaFanForLife:** I love my cliffies!

**LunaSky:** I apologize for not getting to this sooner. I'll explain at the end.

**Wesker888:** I'm sorry, but that last comment made me laugh. "Happy writing". I know it probably wasn't your intention, but you made me think of someone at a computer smiling the whole time. I don't do that. (Continues to smile) :-)

**HerFathersJoy:** Thank you.

**charma10:** How about this, you take Ron and I'll have Hugh Laurie. That way we both have hot, sexy British guys.

**I must apologize. I was on vacation for a week with absolutely no way to download my documents on my computer. Sorry!**


	16. The Last Day

**A/N: Ok, I know this is LONG overdue and everyone's been waiting _ages_ to read this, but just so you know, this isn't the last chapter. I am really sory. **

_Believe you are defeated, believe it long enough, and it is likely to become a fact._ **-Norman Vincent Peale**

* * *

Ron found himself sitting in the waiting room of St. Mungos. His eyes were on the ground as people milled around him. He was oblivious to the world, every little word filtering through his ears but he couldn't recognize anything. 

Hermione wasn't getting better. In fact, this would probably be the last chance for him to speak to her before she slipped away to an unreachable state. Which was why he had been called to the hospital. The Healer had decided to allow Ron into the room even if Hermione was still against the thing. Davidson wanted to give Ron a chance to say goodbye.

_Goodbye?_

She wasn't going anywhere…

She wasn't dying…

She wasn't even going into a coma…

She was just… _leaving_…

"Ron… you can come in…"

He looked up to see a nurse watching him carefully, a hopeful smile on her face. Ron took a deep breath and followed her to the room, waiting until she had shut the door before turning to where Hermione was sitting, her feet dangling off the edge of the bed while she stared out the window.

"Come to say goodbye?"

Those four words cut him so hard.

"Hermione…"

"Please, Ron… just turn around and leave… Believe me… you don't want to see what's left…"

He didn't know what to do. He wanted to hold her so badly. He wanted to just touch her, but she looked as if she'd shatter if he did. From where he stood, he couldn't see her face, but her arms were skinny and her hair had completely given up, falling, tangled and sweaty, around her sagging shoulders. He took a step closer but her cold voice stopped him.

"Just go."

Even her voice, no matter how cold it was, had a hint of defeat in it.

"Hermione, please… don't push me away. Please don't push me away," he begged, moving closer to her as he spoke.

"Please go away," she whispered.

"Hermione-"

Suddenly she got up and whirled around, glaring at him.

"Take a good look, Ron! Take a good look! Is this what you want to say goodbye to?!" she screamed, her chest moving up and down sharply.

Ron couldn't believe what he saw.

Her eyes had sunken in and her skin was completely pale, almost grayish. Everything about her was smaller from lack of exercise and eating. She looked as if she were about to fall any minute.

But that wasn't what caused Ron's heart to break.

He could see the defeat in her eyes. The once burning flame had gone out and now all he could see was a loss of will to live. She wasn't just losing her mind… she was losing her soul as well…

Hermione could see her appearance tearing him apart and that caused her to start crying silently. She crossed her arms and looked away.

"You should go…"

"Hermione… you… what…"

He reached out for her but she pulled away, knowing that if he touched her, it would be her undoing. Suddenly, faintly in the background she could hear the whispering and she closed her eyes, trying to block it out.

"Please go, Ron… just go…"

Ron shook his head.

"How can I just go? I can't just leave you like this…"

She looked up at him, anger in her eyes.

"You've done it before," she shot.

Immediately she wished she hadn't said it, but the damage had been done. She had just ripped his heart out of his chest and threw it on the ground.

Suddenly a new wave of whispering surged over her and she closed her eyes, covering her ears as she tried to get rid of them.

"Go away," she whispered aggressively, backing up into the wall as she tried to get rid of the noise.

Ron watched her, his eyes filled with dread.

She really was losing her mind.

"Hermione… why won't you-"

"GET OUT!" she suddenly shouted, her eyes blazing with anger.

"Hermione, please!"

"GO AWAY!" she screamed, sliding down the wall, tears running down her face. "Please, Ron… just go…" She grabbed her head again, the voices seeking that chance to invade her mind with scrambled words and blaring words of advice. "Go away," she whispered. "Don't bother saying goodbye…"

Ron shook his head, sitting down against the opposite wall.

"I'm not leaving you," he whispered.

Hermione looked up at him.

"I won't remember who you are…"

Ron suddenly got up and walked right over to her, pulling her up to him before she could even pull away.

"Don't you _ever_ say that again," he whispered, holding her arms tightly.

Tears poured down her face as she tried to pull away.

"Let me go," she pleaded.

Ron shook his head.

"I'm not going to let you go… never," he told her.

Hermione continued to shake her head as she tried to pull away.

"Please Ron… I… I can't stand this anymore… the voices… the nightmares… just let me go…"

The pleading in her voice and the vulnerability in her eyes finally showed him that she couldn't do it. She wouldn't be able to do it…

"I'm so sorry, Ron… I should have told you about Ian…"

With that, Ron let her go. He watched her crumble to the ground, a sobbing wreck. He sunk to the floor as well, leaning against the bed as he closed his eyes, trying to drown out her cries.

"Hermione…" he whispered, trying not to cry himself.

Maybe if he couldn't hear her anymore, the pain would go away…

Maybe if he pretended that she wasn't there, his heart would stop tearing apart…

Maybe if he could just disappear, the world would be a better place…

**A/N: I have a lot of reviews to get to.**

**smz12231994:** The thing is, I have a bittersweet relationship with these stories, because I love them yet at the same time I hate them and want to cry. It's complicated.

**Anna Marie Raven:** I'm known for making heartbreaking endings. Don't be surprised if this one turns out to be.

**marauders rox:** Thank you!

**Sarah Butter:** No, this isn't, but I have a feeling the next one will be.

**HpC0ldplay:** Yes, well, things happen...

**mione-ron-4ever:** By the looks of things, it doesn't look possible.

**younggem:** Yeah... I think this is the last time I'm going to do something that bad...

**Wesker888:** Not too good, by the looks of things.

**charma10:** Amen to that.

**HerFathersJoy:** Finally! Here you go!

**paulalou:** You give me too much credit. They'll probably just be very agitated parahnas and I probably wouldn't wait until you grabbed onto the life preserver.

**tefy:** Don't worry, it'll get better!

**theISHA: **Well, don't knock yourself out! You might need to read the remaining chapters.

**Coconut Girl:** I don't think I'd do something _that_ painful, but if I do do something like that, I'll let you give me the idea for my next story! PLEASE, update the Darkness sequel! I'm driving myself crazy. I know you're busy, but when you find time! BTW, how are you doing?

**sballLuvr5:** I needed to lighten the mood a little.

**LunaSky:** You're still going to have to be a little more specific. I've messed up so many lives already. :-)

**Mione-Girl.x:** We'll have to just wait and see.

**I'm sorry, I can't do a Chapter Tease.**


	17. Not the Right Time

**A/N: This is it. **

_Why love if losing hurts so much? We love to know that we are not alone._** -C.S. Lewis**

**

* * *

**"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride," Dumbledore exclaimed, smiling brightly as the two kissed. 

The whole place erupted in applause, wolf-whistles and thunderous shouts of joy rattled the window panes of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Fred and George grinned at each other.

"I hope the baby doesn't have his ugly mug. With a scar like that, he'd be the laughing stock!" Fred said rather loudly, causing others to laugh as well as they watched the two exit the Great Hall while everyone else prepared the Hall for the reception.

Entering an empty classroom, the two fell against the wall, lips moving against each others heatedly, the groom's hands moving over his new wife's body with growing eagerness. He pressed himself closer to her, his heart soaring when she pulled him closer, moving her lips down his jaw and up to his ear and whispering certain promises of the night to come in his ear.

They were about to delve into this new found freedom when someone coughed and the bride nearly screamed in surprise.

They turned around to see a couple sitting in the front desk chair. Or rather, the man was sitting in the front desk chair and the woman was sitting in his lap, a smile teasing both their lips. The man in the chair raised an eyebrow.

"Enjoying my sister, Potter?"

The woman frowned and turned to the man.

"That's not appropriate, Ronald," she told him.

The man turned his gaze upon her, an amused smile on his face.

"Ronald? You weren't calling me Ronald a minute ago. In fact, I think you were telling me to-"

The woman shot him a nasty look and stood up from his lap, quelling his gusto to tell everyone about their previous antics. Harry tried to hide a smile while he glanced over to the blushing redhead, whose eyes were on an imaginary stain on his robes.

"I didn't see you when I came in," she whispered.

The woman bit her lip and glanced down at Ron.

"I… I wasn't feeling well," she whispered.

Ginny's eyes grew slightly and she paled.

"Oh… Hermione-"

"Harry, Ginny, come on! The Hall's ready for… oh Ron! Hermione, dear! We didn't see you come in to the Hall… earlier," Mrs. Weasley finished, glancing over to her daughter, who was still staring at Hermione.

Hermione put on a bright smile, knowing that this was Mrs. Weasley's moment.

"Oh, I was in there," she said.

Ron stood up.

"We stood in the corner. The lights were bothering her," he answered smartly, moving over to where Harry was standing and placed a hand on his back. "Hermione needed to take a breather."

Harry couldn't help but let out a snicker, knowing that the two had been in here for more that a breather. Mrs. Weasley seemed to be thinking along the same lines, but decided against saying anything, knowing that this was a touchy subject for both Hermione as well as Ginny, who was once again, fiddling around with Harry's robes.

"Well, come on them. Everyone's waiting for the happy couple!"

Ginny smiled and nodded. "We'll be there!"

Mrs. Weasley beamed at the two and left, a skip in her step. Hermione turned to Ginny and her smile became even more genuine.

"Oh Ginny! You're married!" she squealed before unceremoniously shoving Harry out of the way and pulling Ginny to her, hugging her tightly and crying.

Ron smiled at Harry's indignant look at being shoved to the side and clapped him on the back.

"Don't worry. You'll forget about it by tonight," he whispered, causing Harry to go red.

Hermione and Ginny were now babbling incoherently, crying and hugging.

Harry took Ginny's hand and smiled.

"Gin, I don't think your mum's going to appreciate you appearing in front of everyone sobbing," he muttered.

Both women shot him a look and Ginny sniffed, fixing her hair before giving Ron a quick kiss before leaving the room. Harry offered them a shrug and followed his new wife out the door. Hermione was about to follow when she suddenly stopped and touched her head, teetering to the side. Ron frowned, moving over to her and placing a hand on her arm.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

She looked up at him and tried to smile, taking deep breaths as she balanced herself out.

"Yeah… I just…" she drifted off, the memories of three years ago still evident in her mind.

Ron looked away, unable to meet her pained eyes.

"You still hear the voices," he whispered.

Hermione could see that this occurrence was bothering him greatly, but she couldn't let this happen. Taking his hand, she led him out the door and to the Great Hall.

"Come on," she whispered.

As they entered the Hall, people were already applauding and telling funny stories about the happy couple. She turned slightly and looked up at Ron, observing his face as he watched Harry and Ginny carefully.

"Do you hate me?" she asked.

Ron looked down at her, obviously confused.

"What?"

"Do you hate me? For not wanting to get married…"

She felt him stiffen beside him and she knew she had upset him. He remained quiet for a while, watching as everyone around him smiled and enjoyed themselves.

"I don't hate you, Hermione… you have every right to-"

She turned herself around so that she was facing him fully.

"But you want to get married," she interjected, not wanting him to make excuses for her sake.

Ron returned to silence for what seemed like ages before he spoke again.

"Hermione… I…" He looked straight into her eyes and tried again, his voice filled with so much emotion that Hermione would have started crying, had the room not burst out into laughter from something George had said. "Hermione, I love you," he told her. "I just thank God that you're alive and that you even remember who I am."

Hermione took his hand, a small smile now on her face.

"I can hardly go anywhere without you without… hearing him…" she whispered.

He lifted his hand up to her cheek.

"But it's getting better, though," he said hopefully.

Hermione bit her lip. She looked over to Harry and Ginny, who were grinning stupidly.

"What if it never gets better, Ron? What if I'm never well enough to get married?"

Ron shook his head, kissing her cheek.

"That doesn't matter. I don't care if we never get married. I just need you here with me… as long as you're here, I'll be ok."

"But you… you've always wanted to get married…"

Ron shook his head again, pulling her to him.

"I don't need to get married as long as you promise not to leave," he whispered.

Hermione rested her head on his chest, closing her eyes as she felt the tears come to her. He loved her so much, he was willing to wait for her.

"But… we might never be able to… make love or… have kids," she whispered into his robes.

Ron pulled her closer and kissed her forehead.

"I love you, Hermione," he whispered before pulling away and moving down to the front of the Hall where Harry motioned for him to sit beside him. The two were soon in a heated conversation with a few other men, leaving Hermione by herself in the corner. He had just ended all conversation quickly with her with those three simple words and she could feel herself feeling warmer inside.

"Not meaning to sound selfish, but I seem to remember this being my wedding and you are not smiling."

Hermione turned to see Ginny standing there, a bright smile on her face.

"I'm just thinking, that's all," she whispered.

Ginny bit her lip and glanced over to where Ron was sitting.

"Do you love him?"

Hermione was silent for a moment then nodded slowly.

"I still love him."

Ginny then smiled again and took Hermione's hand, leading her through the happy crowd.

"Then don't think. Just enjoy. It may not be the right time, but trust me. The two of you are going to get married someday," Ginny said as they approached the table. "Now, if you'll excuse me. I'm supposed to have my first dance with a certain Mr. Potter," she said rather loudly.

Harry looked up and grinned. Standing up, he went around the table and took her hand, leading her to the middle of the Hall. Hermione watched them as they moved to the music that was now playing over them, the candles and enchanted ceiling setting an ambiance of love.

"That will be us, I know it," Ron whispered into her ear as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"How are you so certain?" she asked, leaning into his chest as they watched the two on the floor. He stayed quiet for a while then Ron tightened his grip on her.

"Because I promised I'd never leave you. That also meant that I was going to marry you," he whispered.

She turned and looked up at him. Standing on her toes, she brushed her lips against his, feeling his arms pull her closer.

"Thank you," she whispered into his lips.

"For what?"

"For saving me…"

**_The End._**

**A/N: I have finished Deathly Hallows and I LOVED IT! It was much better than the last one and although it had a _lot_ more language than any HP book I thought would have, (Cheers to Mrs. Weasley!) I am very excited to see how the movie turns out. I hope you all enjoyed this story.**

**marauders rox:** Not neccesarily better as in the sense that they're happily married with two kids, but I would consider this a happy ending.

**mione-ron-4ever:** Oh, don't feel sorry for them anymore!

**tefy:** I don't plan on seeing the movie anytime soon. Maybe when it comes out on DVD at Blockbuster or something, mostly because I heard they altered a few things, especially the whole Cho thing. I heard they made her the one who ratted the Army out. Anyway, as for the book, it is awsome! I thought it was really good.

**HpC0ldplay:** I decided to end this peacefully.

**greenbean16:** Here you go!

**NairobiDawn:** Well, it wasn't really that I was _busy_ but I just couldn't bring myself to write much more of this story. This is an _incredibly_ emotional story for me to write and I'm more of a prefectionist, so I have to have it right in my mind before I even start writing. I'm horrible because even after I've updated, I have at least two other alternate ways that situation could have gone and it sometimes upsets me. Sometimes I feel that I haven't put enough detail, or like in the 11th, 12th and maybe 13th chapter of this story, I might have put too much detail. I have an ongoing war in my head.

**Coconut Girl:** That's good! I'm still so excited! Have you read the Deathly Hallows book yet? Anyway, I'm just trying to get through the rest of my stories. I think I'm running out of ideas!

**cellogirl:** Don't worry, I think I almost cried after writing the last story. It was hard to write that one, though, because I didn't want it to mimic the hospital scene with Ron and Hermione in Vindicated. I think I ended up doing that anyway.

**Mione-Girl.x:** Thank you so much. I hope you enjoyed this story.

**I am running out of ideas. I think it's because of Deathly Hallows. If I do continue to do the stories after I'm done, it will most likely not follow the last two books, like I usually do. I would, however, consider any ideas from my reviewers, as long as you know it's something I'll consider doing. **

**BYE!**

**HAPPY READING!**


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